Given the recent oil and gas finds in Ghana, India’s partnership with Ghana in fertilizer, petroleum and gas sector was underscored. Mr. Sharma impressed upon the need of an assured gas supply commitment by 2014 for the $ 1 bn ammonia-urea fertilizer plant in Ghana for which an MoU was signed recently between the two countries. Other related issues of availability of land, potable water, infrastructural development for the project were also raised. Mr. Sharma highlighted the interest of OVL in partnering for exploration in the petroleum sector. Responding to the request of Government of Ghana’s interest for an early closure of an enduring distributorship agreement between Ghana Heavy Equipment and BEML for supplying earth moving equipment by the end of the year, Mr. Sharma assured that the Government of India would take up the matter on priority. 

The Minister for Commerce & Industry also assured a favourable consideration of a request from the Ghanaian side for concessional Lines of Credit for completing infrastructure gaps in the Ghana Free Zones Area and for development of an integrated trade centre. He also offered training support through the Indian institutions – Petroleum Research Institute (PRI) and Centre for WTO Studies at IIFT. This was in response to a request made by Ms. Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade & Industry of Ghana. 

Shri Sharma is leading a CII-industry delegation to Ghana covering oil and gas, energy, pharmaceutical, fertilizer, electrical equipment, banking and consultancy. Both sides specifically identified cooperation in pharmaceuticals, information technology and energy sector as their key priorities. The Finance Minister sought India’s support for transfer of technology and building local capacity especially in the down-stream and up-stream oil economy, apart from the IT sector. The event provided an opportunity for productive exchanges between ONGC, OVL and GAIL with Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), and separately between Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF), GNPC and Ministry of Agriculture of Ghana. The exchanges went on Ghana-India cooperation in the oil and gas sector and in the fertilizer sector.