Build human resources on negotiation skills-African governments advised

Story: Boahene Asamoah

The lack of trained human resources to negotiate on behalf of the state has been a major source of exploitation of the continent’s natural resources, the Chief Executive Officer of the African Investments Limited, Mr Kwasi Abeasi, has said.
He said African countries had comparative advantages that could be harnessed and fully exploited to yield greater resources for the continent, but lacked such personnel who understood the major issues.
In an interview on Globalisation and its effects on Africa at the ongoing United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Accra, Mr Abeasi, who was one-time the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investments Promotion Centre (GIPC), called on African governments to build human resources on negotiation skills.
He said “Africa had natural resources as its main comparative advantage”, adding that in negotiating for its exploit emphasis should be placed on value addition”.
He said globalisation had come to stay, and African economies should better be prepared to play their part in the global village, adding that Africa had all it takes to compete in the global world.
On the effects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Mr Abeasi said “Africa needs FDIs to complement its domestic resources to develop”.
He said FDIs also had the potential to bring in the technical know-how that was needed badly for the continent’s rapid development.
He dismissed suggestions that FDI was not needed and stated that while local resource mobilisation was crucial, FDI was indeed a welcome relief to many African economies.
Mr Abeasi, however, stated that the focus should be on FDI that would be able to target where a country had both comparative and competitive advantages.
Mr Abeasi stated that there was also the need to create the enabling environment that would ensure that Africa took full advantage of FDI to the continent.
The UNCTAD XII conference would, among other things, discuss such topics as globalisation, Global Systems of Trade and Preferences (GSTP) and Trade and Gender: Perspectives for sustainable growth and poverty reduction.
Other topics are; Making sustainability standards work for pro-poor agricultural development and trade, Creating an institutional environment conducive to increased foreign investment, and sustainable development.
There will also be regional group meetings, which would consist of Africa, European Union and Group of 77 and China.