The Minister for Business Development, Ibrahim Mohammed Awal made the call when executives of the Canada-Ghana Chamber of Commerce called on him at the ministry.

The minister noted that although there had been some level of investments from Canada in Ghana, there were more opportunities to be explored to increase trade volumes between the two countries.

He emphasised that currently, business between the countries is not too big, and thus charged the Chamber to help in improving the business relationship between the two countries

“Within the next four years, let’s strive to quadruple the development of business between the two countries,” he urged

He assured that one of the commitments of the current government was to provide the enabling environment for businesses and to provide the needed support for small and medium enterprises to thrive in a competitive global market.

Additionally, he said the government would remove all bottlenecks that had long impeded the growth of business in the country.

“We are a pro-business government and we intend to remove all the obstacles that affect doing business in this country, “he assured.

He mentioned for example that the government would remove the 5 per cent tax that had been imposed on the real estate sector in the country.

The minister also emphasised the need for a regular dialogue with the private sector to understand their concerns and ways to improve them.

The President of the Chamber, Salah Kalmoni emphasised the need for a greater collaboration between the ministry and the chamber.

He also emphasised on the need to institute governance measures in all spheres of the Ghanaian economy and the need for the government to make taxation easy and simpler.

“One of the most important things that we need is good governance because it is the key to everything else, once you are on a level playing field, it creates the right environment for business to move forward,” he said.

Andria Abraham, Executive Secretary of the Chamber said the Chamber would work closely with the ministry to help in the agenda of helping businesses to thrive in the country.

“We believe that good collaboration with the ministry and from our association we would be able to give practical solutions to the business challenges that confront individual businesses.”

The Canada-Ghana Chamber of Commerce represents a wide range of business interest in Canada, Ghana and the West-African sub-region.

By Kingsley Asare