The resolve by Ghana and Saudi Arabia to deepen trade and investment ties between them and the report by the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs that the prevailing numerous chieftaincy disputes in the region is a national security threat which requires urgent attention are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana and Saudi Arabia have resolved to deepen trade and investment ties between them.
The two countries firmed up their long-standing bilateral relations in Accra yesterday when Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, received a “special letter” from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal Bin Farban Al Saud.
The letter was delivered by the Charge d’Affaires of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Accra, Mr. Saeed Al Baker.
Ms. Botchwey said considering the strong relations that existed between the two countries, there was the need for them to explore opportunities in the areas of trade and investment.
She said when Ghana participated in the ‘Saudi Expo’, it would offer the country an opportunity to court Saudi investors.
“It is something we have worked on for a very long time and we are hoping that we can make a lot of progress on it,” she added.
The Saudi Food Expo 2022, the biggest food, beverage and hospitality fair on Saudi Arabia’s business calendar, is slated for the capital city of the Kingdom, Riyadh, from February 20 to 23, 2022.
According to the minister, Saudi Arabia was a very important friend of Ghana, and that Ghana had recognised the invitation to participate in the expo.
For his part, Mr. Al Baker expressed gratitude to Ms. Botchwey for the warm hospitality.
He described the Saudi Food Expo 2022 as the biggest food, beverage and hospitality fair on the Saudi business calendar.
The newspaper says that the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is set to introduce an electronic auction regime in the first quarter of 2022 for interested persons to bid for items of their choice on auction through a more transparent process.
The new initiative will replace the manual auction being held for many years and often saddled with scores of people claiming to be political party foot soldiers asking for favours and advantages to bid for items of their choice.
It will be part of phase two of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), a single window platform in deployment for cargo clearance at the country’s ports.
Under the second phase, 13 modules, including authorised economic operators, post clearance audit (PCA), e– wallet, simplified clearance/postal, investigations, customs laboratory activities, duty drawback, re–scheduling, performance management, state warehouse management, surveillance, and Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) are expected to be rollout to further improve the country’s revenue collection process.
The Deputy Managing Director of Ghana Link Network Services Limited, Mr Clyde Adjei, who made this known at a media training on ICUMS in Accra, observed that the second phase would further improve revenue collection, block loopholes and make clearing at the ports and other entry points seamless and stress free.
The training was meant for journalists from the Port Journalists Network (PJN) and other selected editors.
The PJN is a group of seasoned journalists who have been reporting on ports and maritime issues over the past years and have come together to form an association to champion issues that concern port and maritime in the country.
Mr Adjei said although Ghana Link had been successful with the rollout of the first phase of ICUMS, it continued to offer training to all stakeholders, as it prepared to rollout phase two of the project.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs has described the prevailing numerous chieftaincy disputes in the region as a national security threat which requires urgent attention.
The chiefs from the Eastern Region stated this when they paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House.
The leader of the delegation and the President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, Nene Sakitey, appealed to President Akufo-Addo to help resolve the disputes.
On environmental protection measures, Nene Sakitey commended President Akufo-Addo for his efforts in protecting the environment.
He appealed to Ghanaians to rally behind the President and his government to ensure that various parts of the country continued to witness development in the years to come.
President Akufo-Addo in his response acknowledged that chieftaincy disputes in the Eastern Region and other parts of the country are a matter of concern to his administration.
To address the issue, President Akufo-Addo suggested that his administration will prioritise finding resources for the Judicial Committee of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs to support their efforts to resolve the disputes.
The newspaper says that the International Monetary Fund is maintaining its 6.2 percent forecast of the expansion of the Ghanaian economy in 2022.
This is bigger than the 4.7 percent growth rate it projected for last year.
Though it did not give reasons for the projected high Gross Domestic Product for this year, the expected increase in economic activities, following further easing of COVID-19 restrictions will trigger that.
Improved aggregate demand and supply of goods, exports as well as government and household spending will influence the expansion of the economy, which before the COVID-19 pandemic had been growing at a rate of about six per cent on the average.
In its October 2021 World Economic Report, the IMF said Ghana’s economy will grow at a rate of 6.2 percent in 2022.
This is higher than forecasts by research institutions, sighted by Joy Business. The higher growth rate indicates that businesses will be able to generate more revenue from sales and expand into the future.
Industry is expected to pick up this year, whilst the Services and Agriculture sectors are expected to consolidate their gains in 2022.
Ghana’s economy expanded by 6.6 per cent in the 3rd quarter of this year, provisional data from the Ghana Statistical Service indicated.
This is a significant increase from what was recorded during the same period last year, which was a contraction, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ghanaian Times also says that Ghana has extended the temporary travel restrictions on non-Ghanaians arriving from South Korea to February 3, 2022 as a measure to curb the spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
This was contained in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) in Accra on Tuesday.
To this end, the MFARI wishes to state that the general public should take note of the above and adhere to it accordingly,” it said.
According to the John Hopkins University data on COVID-19 which pegged the global statistics at about 313million and 5.5 million as of yesterday, South Korea has a total case count of 674,868 with 6,166 deaths.
It is recalled that Ghana on December 20, last year, placed a travel ban on travellers coming into the country from Israel, Malta and South Korea due to the increase in COVID-19 cases across the world.
The restriction on Israel and South Korea was for 14 days which elapsed about a week ago while that of Malta was indefinite.
In the case of Malta, the ban affects travellers going to the country from Ghana while Ghana would not recognise vaccination certificates from that country.
The travel ban was issued barely a week after the Ghana Airports Company Limited announced new COVID-19 guidelines at the airport after seven cases of the Omicron variant were established within the Ghanaian population.
The guidelines included the surcharge of $3,500 per passenger if any airline brought any unvaccinated persons into the country.
GIK/APA