The newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, Rosie Glazebrook has paid a courtesy to the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten, to discuss the upcoming Commonwealth Business Forum which takes place beside the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda from June 21st to 23rd.

She also discussed trade and other opportunities within the ECOWAS sub-region with them.

Speaking to the press, Rosie Glazebrook stated that the Commonwealth is keen to use its convening soft power to promote trade, investment and innovation across all 54 countries of the Commonwealth:

 “The Commonwealth advantage is based on shared language, history, culture and legal systems. This means that it is 21% cheaper for a Commonwealth country to trade with another Commonwealth country, rather than a non- Commonwealth country”.

 She continued, “Ghana and Africa have great resources and human capital that when harnessed properly will propel the entire continent to new levels of economic and geopolitical power. We want the Commonwealth to be a partner in this success story”.

 Whilst in Ghana, Mrs Glazebrook met with a cross section of Ghanaian businesses who have been specially invited to be part of the Commonwealth Business network in Ghana.

These businesses are the Universal Merchant Bank, headed by Nana Dwemoh Benneh; the Consolidated Bank of Ghana, headed by Daniel Addo; Etranzact Ghana Limited managed by John Apea; GLICO group headed by Edward Forkuo Kyei; Africa legal Associates headed by Nana Adjoa Hackman; Goldcoast Refinery headed by Dr. Said Deraz and Ghana EXIM Bank headed by Lawrence Agyinsam

Mrs. Glazebrook who until her appointment was the First Commissioner of Her Majesty’s Civil Service of the United Kingdom, takes over from Samantha Cohen CVO, the former Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth who has recently been appointed as Chief of Staff to the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

CWEIC is a commercial, not-for-profit membership organisation with an official mandate from the Commonwealth Heads of Government to facilitate trade and investment throughout the 54 Commonwealth member nations.

The role of CWEIC is to use the convening power and trusted network of the Commonwealth, which is led by Her Majesty the Queen, to drive trade and investment.

CWEIC’s network includes around 100 business and government Strategic Partners (members) including Standard Chartered, Dangote Group, Zenith Bank, Rolls Royce, ACCA and the Governments of Malta and the Maldives.

 Every two years, CWEIC hosts the Commonwealth Business Forum in association with the host country of The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).