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Hannah Tetteh, minister of trade and industry,
said here Ghana Heavy Equipment Ltd. (GHEL) had
been a distributor for Japanese company Komatsu
but lost the business. The government has therefore
helped the company team up with the Indian firm.
GHEL produces earth-moving equipment and other
machinery for the mining, timber, agricultural,
automobile, building and road construction industries
within West Africa.
BEML (formerly Bharat Earth Movers Limited) was
established in May 1964 for manufacture of rail
coaches and mining equipment in Bangalore. The
government of India owns 54 percent of its equity
now and the remaining 46 percent is held by the
public, financial institutions, foreign institutional
investors, banks and employees.
Its major businesses include mining and construction.
BEML's products are exported to more than 56 countries.
The company made a turnover of Rs.3,558 crore
in 2009-10. BEML has also entered aerospace business
and is looking for major offset projects flowing
from India's big aircrft deals.
Following this new deal, "GHEL has been
able to enter the West African market with the
provision of services and supply of spare parts",
the minister said.
GHEL is currently operating in neighbouring Burkina
Faso and Togo and has now put in place the necessary
strategy to penetrate and establish its presence
in other regions, she said.
Tetteh said Ghana has increased its trade with
India over the past few years but was still looking
for ways to increase the volume of trade through
further negotiation.
(IANS)
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