Barely Sixteen months into office as the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr.Ban Ki-Moon is scheduled to make his first official visit to Ghana this week.
The eighth UN Secretary-General is visiting Ghana together with other prominent figures from the world of business, politics and policy making to attend the 12th United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII).
Amongst them are Supachai Panitchpakdi, UNCTAD Secretary-General, Hu Deping, President of Africa-China Business Council and Frits Seegers, CEO of Global Retail and Commercial Banking for the Barclays Group.
The rest include Gary Ross, Vice president of the Liz Claiborne, USA And Steven Walten, Chairman of Wing Tai International Apparel Group and the Wing Tei Group of Companies Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Mr. Ki-Moon's visit will be the second to Africa after his earlier visits to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia for the African Union Summit.
Meanwhile, the world Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) Conference and the World Investment Forum (WIF) will be held on the occasion of the UNCTAD XII Conference scheduled for Accra, Ghana between 18th and 22nd April 2008.
The two events being organised jointly by the Government of Ghana through the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC), WAIPA and UNCTAD will bring together over 500 delegates comprising government officials, policy markers, cooperate executives, investors and investment promotion agencies from 192 countries. The meeting will provide a unique platform for interaction and networking through series of conferences and best practice forums.
Taking place on the 18th of April, 2008 at the Accra International Conference Center as a prelude to the UNCTAD XII Conference, is the WAIPA annual conference which will focus on capacity building workshops on the new trends of investment flows as a result of globalization, annual general meeting and elections for the steering committee. It will end with a gala awards night where three investment promotion agencies will be awarded for achieving excellence in policy advocacy. There will also be Women in Business awards to give recognition to women-owned businesses that have benefited from the Business Development Service of the EMPRETEC Centers in their respective Countries.
It is expected that the WIF and the WAIPA conference will provide a platform for sharing practical experiences and insights into globalisation, the opportunities therein and the channels in harnessing these opportunities.
The world Investment Forum scheduled between 19th and 22nd April 2008 will explore future development in FDI flows, where they come from and where they will go. The forum will also look at which sector and industries will account for these flows as it examines what the new features of the corporate strategies that are driving the process will be.
Particular emphasis will be placed on the new opportunities and challenges for investors, how global values chains and business linkages are evolving, and how emerging economics can accelerate the development process through FDI.
According to Mr. Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC), the country is well prepared for the take off of the conference.
He explained that the GIPC has far spent US $150,000 on the up-coming world event, which Ghana is hosting for the first time.Public Agenda
