The American Chamber of Commerce Ghana held its first business meeting for 2017 on Tuesday, January 31, discussing how businesses can better engage with the government to help improve the business environment in the country.

On the theme “How Businesses can better engage with the new Administration”, the meeting was attended by about 112 business people, mostly members of the American Chamber of Commerce as well as representatives of the European Business Organization and officials of  U.S Embassy in Accra.

The guest speaker for the meeting, Mr. Kwame Pianim, the retired CEO of New World Renaissance Securities Ltd, who is also an economist/politician, indicated in his speech that “there seems to be a genuine call on Business for collaboration in a well articulated action plan in the 2016 election manifesto of the new government, there is the desire to get more people to start new businesses and encourage existing businesses to make new investments, to grow and expand”

In his opening remarks, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce Ghana, Mr. Joe Mensah said that “U.S businesses where ready to engage with the new government, to improve the business environment and facilitate more U.S investment in the country to create jobs and contribute to the economic development of Ghana”

Today’s meeting forms part of a series of monthly meetings to be held by the Chamber with support from the U.S. Government’s Trade Africa Initiative.  Trade Africa is a US Government Initiative to strengthen the U.S. relationship with Africa in order to significantly expand U.S.–African private and public sector collaboration to increase trade with and within Africa. The American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana is the representative arm of U.S businesses in the Country and was formally established in 1997 to promote trade and investment between the United States of America and the Republic of Ghana. Its main objective is to contribute to the economic development of the country through the creation of a vibrant private sector. The Chamber is also affiliated to the U.S Chamber of Commerce, which is the world’s largest trade association with over three million members and 117 affiliate chapters around the globe.