When the discussions are final­ised, the Southern China Airlines will provide direct flight from Accra to Guangzhou to facilitate mobility and commerce between Ghana and the broader West Afri­can region and China.

This forms part of the discus­sions, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta had with his Chinese counterpart when he recently trav­elled to China.

The Finance Ministry made this known in statement made available to the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday.

Mr Ofori-Atta led an official government delegation to the People’s Republic of China from January 25, 2024 to February 3, 2024 and held a series of import­ant meetings with his Chinese counterparts, which will set the stage for a more enduring partner­ship between Ghana and China.

The Finance Minister said the discussions with the Southern China Airlines for aviation services in Ghana for the West African market, served as a follow-up to the maiden working sessions of the Ghana Mutual Prosperity Partnership, where the Govern­ment, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance, Ghana Revenue Authority and Ghana Investment Promotion Centres, met with Chinese busi­nesses operating in Ghana, to get a fair sense of the challenges they are encountering and how Govern­ment could work to enhance the business environment.

Mr Ofori-Atta did not elaborate on the partnership between Ghana and Southern China Airlines for aviation services for the Ghanaian and the West African market.

Responding to some of the notable outcomes of his trip to China, the Finance Minister said Ghana received a strong commit­ment from the Chinese authorities to help ensure the progress of the debt treatment Memorandum of Understanding with the Official Creditor Committee.

“Among our private engage­ments on green energy, Sunon Asogli committed to double their energy production in Ghana by fo­cusing more on renewable energy sources,” he stated.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the delega­tion further explored collaboration between Ghana and China on the production of electronic vehicles (EV’s) spearheaded by Huawei and Sunon Asogli.

“Regarding our bauxite produc­tion and value addition, building on work already done by the leader­ship of the Association of Ghana Industries, we held key meetings to advance discussions with Chinese investors on Ghana’s bauxite production and the integrated aluminum industry,” he said.

The Finance Minister touching on the macroeconomic strengthen of the nation, said “today, with the successful completion of the first review of Ghana’s International Monetary Fund-supported Post- Covid 19 Programme for Eco­nomic Growth, there is the strong recognition by all that we are in a stronger position than before.”

He said inflation had declined to 23.2 per cent in December 2023 from 54.2 per cent in December 2022 with a strong Cedi, which reported a marginal depreciation of 7.2 per cent between February and December 2023, compared to 28.4 per cent during the same period 2022.

“Overall real Gross Domestic Product growth of 2.8 per cent for the first three quarters of 2023, higher than the 2023 initial GDP growth target of 1.5 per cent,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.