THE WORLD Trade Centre (WTC) Accra has announced a series of activities in line with government’s “Beyond the Return” initiative.

General Manager of WTC Accra, Edem Kofi Yevutsey, commenting on the cooperation, said WTC Accra would, this year, leverage its global reach to attract Diaspora investment and capital into Ghana.

“In lending our full support to government’s initiative, WTC Accra’s activities have highlighted Ghana as a nation of economic possibilities and a beneficial global economic partner,” he said, adding that WTC Accra was well placed to partner government with its core mandate—being trade— which was also the main agenda of the initiative.

“We are the premier private facilitator of investment in Ghana and a soft- landing pad for businesses and individuals around the world seeking secure and lucrative ventures in Africa. Our company comprehensively promotes and facilitates professional delegations to trade expos around the world, organizes workshops and specifically bridges the gap in trade between Ghana and the rest of the world.

Yevutsey continued: “We will begin the project with the launch of our International Trade Accelerator Program (ITAP) on February 4, 2020. ITAP is focused on developing trade through exports promotion among SMEs in Ghana, thus making them competitive in the global marketplace and ensuring their sustainable development.”

The ITAP program is also developed in an effort to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) one, two, three and 10 among 14 other (SDGs) towards poverty reduction in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

The General Manager said he was confident that by the close of the year 2020, Ghana would earn the spotlight in the world as a leading business destination with the combined effort of all stakeholders and the WTC Accra.

President Akufo-Addo launched “Beyond the Return, The Diaspora Dividend” as a follow up to the “Year of Return” initiative which was hugely successful with some 200,000 visitors taking up the offer to tour Ghana in 2019.

The Ghana Tourism Authority, the implementing agency of “Beyond the Return” under Ghana’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, will be at the forefront of bringing all stakeholders together, in what will be a focused drive at the empowerment of black people, using Ghana as the hub.

This initiative is to urge Diasporans to change the African narrative, which has been characterized largely by a concentration on disease, hunger, poverty and illegal mass migration.

WTC Accra has been licensed by the World Trade Center Association (WTCA) – New York among a network of 328 centers globally and duly registered in Ghana since 2008.