Trade Minister woos Indian investors
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyeremanten capitalised on the India, West Africa Forum, which was held in Accra to market the country’s industrialisation plan to Indian investors who were present.
Advertisement
Taking them through the plans of the government to shift the economy from commodity based to industrialisation, Mr Kyeremanten called on the Indian investors to partner the government in some of the projects.
He pointed out some of the numerous opportunities that the Indian investors could explore in the government’s 10-point agenda for transformation.
“We just launched a very ambitious transformational agenda for the country and there are some areas which I believe will interest you,” he stated.
“One of the pillars of this agenda is to bring industrialisation to the doorstep of the ordinary people and so we have this programme called the one-district one- factory initiative under which the government and the private sector will work together to establish at least one enterprise in each district and am using this opportunity to invite you to be part of this programme,” he noted
Mr Kyeremanten said the programme would identify the economic opportunity in every district and use the power of industry to add value to the resources in the districts.
One region one park
The minister also invited the investors to invest in the government’s one-region one-park initiative which sought to establish a major industrial park or special economic zones in all the 10 regions across the country.
He said the investments could be in the construction and development of the industrial park itself but beyond that, the government wished to attract anchor tenants into the industrial park and would ,therefore, also welcome Indian investors into the parks.
“One of the parks is going to be a pharmaceutical park and we know the expertise that Indians have in this sector so we will be looking forward,”Mr Kyeremanten said.
“All the magic about Asia can be attributed to the special economic zones and industrial parks because in these in these parks, you are offering dedicated land, space, energy, utilities and everything that an entrepreneur needs to succeed,” he added.
Strategic anchor industries
The minister also pointed out the government’s efforts in developing new strategic anchors upon which the economy would be built on. Consequently, the government has outlined eight new strategic pillars.
The new pillars include; the establishment of a petrochemical industry, an iron and steel industry, an integrated aluminium industry, the expansion of the domestic production of pharmaceuticals and the establishment of a vehicle assembly and automotive industry.
The rest are the production of industrial salt, the establishment of garment and textiles enterprises, and the manufacturing of machinery, equipment and component parts.
These pillars are expected to benefit from an integrated approach that will include backwards and forward linkages using available resources such oil, bauxite, aluminium and the country’s twin-ports as enablers.
He called on the Indian investors to partner the government in this regard as well.
Indian business forum
The India-West Africa Exhibition and Business Forum (Namaskar Africa 2017) which was held between August 16 and 17 in Accra was a regional flagship programme organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
The forum brought together about 63 companies from India who came to explore investment opportunities in the areas of infrastructure and construction, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, as well as agriculture in Ghana and Africa.
The Senior Director at the FICCI, Mr Susnato Sen said the exhibition was aimed at sharing technical expertise and experience of Indian companies in sectors that are important for both countries.
He said the forum was an opportunity to enhance and diversify India’s economic engagement with the West Africa region and position Ghana as the gateway and preferred destination for investment and trade. — GB
