National, regional and international oil and gas industry Local Content Experts will gather in Accra, Ghana, for the third edition of the annual Africa Oil and Gas Local Content Sustainability Conference and Exhibition (ALC2019).
The two-day event, which is on the theme, "Shaping the Future through Sustainable Local Content Policies", will take place from October 10-11, in Accra.
A statement issued by AME Trade Limited, which was copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is the host National Oil Company of ALC2019, which had been endorsed and supported by the Petroleum Commission, Ghana, the Africa Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), and the Ministry of Energy, Ghana.
It said the ALC2019 was the third annual continent-wide policy response initiative and platform that brings together regional decision-makers and relevant stakeholders.
It noted that the key objective was the promotion of increased local value addition and participation in the oil and gas industry supply chain, to achieve the transfer of skills, capacity building and economic development.
"The choice of Ghana was informed by the various policies and actions of the Ghana Government and Industry, to encourage local content development and participation of citizens in the oil and gas value chain, since the country joined the ranks of African oil producers," it said.
It noted that professionals within and outside Africa had been assembled to discuss various aspects of the theme.
It said confirmed Speakers include: Mr John-Peter Amewu, Minister for Energy, Mr Mahaman Laouan Gaya, Secretary General, APPO and Dr Kofi Koduah Sarpong, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), GNPC and Mr Egbert Faibille Jnr. CEO, Petroleum Commission.
Others are Dr Kwame Amoah Baah-Nuakoh, General Manager, Sustainability, GNPC; Dr Lahra Liberti, Natural Resources for Development, OECD and Madam Yanchun Zhang, Chief, Commodity Policy Implementation, UNCTAD
The statement said ALC2019 would feature a technical exhibition alongside the main conference and will gather national, regional and international stakeholders from both public and private sectors, including government representatives, development partners, international and national oil companies, service providers and decision makers from the industry among others.
It said the event is a high-level policy dialogue and professional networking forum for key stakeholders in the African and international oil and gas industry, focusing on the sustainability of local content regulatory and institutional frameworks and policies that had so far been implemented by African Oil and Gas Producing Countries to enable and advance local economic development and national industry participation.
It said ALC2019 would promote knowledge exchange and showcase the best practical solutions for sustainable national industry participation and domestic value addition through local enterprise, contractor and supplier value chain development.
It will also explore opportunities for collaboration in regional local content for the development of regional supply chain within the oil and gas value chain in Africa.
It noted that the success of the first two editions in Luanda, Angola, had made ALC2019 a must-attend for industry stakeholders, who want to keep abreast of local content policies and opportunities in Africa.