President Akufo-Addo has announced plans by the government to leverage on the many visitors in the country as part of the Year of Return Initiative.
Nana Addo says the over 200,000 visitors in the country during the festive season prove that Ghana is a safe destination.
Speaking at a forum in Accra under the theme, Beyond the Return, Nana Akufo-Addo says government will get these visitors to invest in Ghana.
“We can derive maximum dividends from our relationship with the diaspora and mutually beneficial cooperation and as partners to share growth and development. History tells us of the positive impact of the diasporan communities on the growth and development of countries through increased trade activities, investments and the transfer of skills.”
The government has dubbed 2020, “Beyond the Return”, pursuant to the 2019 Year of Return which marked 400 years since the first slave ship left the shores of the then Gold Coast.
Hundreds of people have arrived in Ghana as part of the Year of Return program.
The “Year of Return” is a year-long event of the return of the descendants of the first enslaved Africans from James Town in Accra to James town in Virginia in the United States of America (USA).
Ghana will explore investment opportunities from Year of Return – GTA
The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has said it is rolling out plans to ensure Ghana benefits immensely from the Year of Return.
Chief Executive Officer for the GTA, Akwasi Agyemang said investment opportunities will be explored from the visitors in a bid to develop the country.
“2020 we have a project – that is when we start moving out from people visiting to investment consideration to citizenship to a whole complex diaspora discussion on real estate and we also want to use this as a platform to improve upon the heritage infrastructure that we have.
“In 2019, we realized most of the people who came were taken to Cape Coast, Elimina but that is not where the story actually is. If you go to up North from Salaga, Assin Praso and Assin Manso that is where the real story of the slave trade can be told.”
‘Ghana to make more money’
Kwaku Darko Ankrah, a historian has said the celebration of the Year of Return is putting Ghana in a position to rake in more revenue for economic development.
Last year, Ghana made about US$ 22 million and if the Diasporan Secretariat has come out to say that it is around US$ 1.9 billion which is Year of Return alone without other visitations, then it is likely that we may move from the two digits to [more].”
