‘Partner govt to implement industrialisation policy’
Local industries have been charged to strengthen partnerships and re-strategise their operations to partner the government to implement its industrialisation policy.
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A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, who made the call, stressed that the government’s industrialisation policy could not be sustained if the local industries did not take advantage of the stability in the business environment to leverage on their potential.
“The government will continue to create a stable macro-economic environment for the private sector and local businesses to thrive in line with the industrialisation agenda.
However, it is important that the local businesses should be innovative and adopt the right technologies to take advantage of the opportunities,” he stressed.
He was addressing participants in the opening of a national industrial summit in Accra yesterday.
Summit
The summit was organised by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and supported by other key stakeholder agencies and private entities.
They include the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC), the Volta River Authority (VRA), Tullow Ghana Limited and ZoomLion Ghana Limited.
Dubbed the Ghana Industrial Summit and Exhibition 2017, the three-day forum has brought together industry players in the local industry and their counterparts from Spain, the United Kingdom (UK), Catalonia and Kenya, among others.
It has the theme, “Boosting Ghanaian industrial growth through global partnerships.” The participants will explore investment opportunities in the energy, oil and gas, agriculture, waste management and the domestic retail sector.
Industrialisation drive
Mr Ahomka-Lindsay stressed that the focus of the government was to transform the country from its over-dependence on the export of raw materials to an industrial economy.
“I would like to state that the AGI is a strategic partner in this drive to transform the economy into an industrial one so there is the need for the local industries to rise above the challenges in the economy and be part of this agenda,” he said.
Partnerships
The President of the AGI, Mr James Asare-Adjei, said the association was committed to strengthening global partnerships that would see local and international businesses share ideas and best practices to boost economic growth.
He said the summit was timely, being held at a time when there was a steady improvement in the macro-economic conditions due to prudent economic policies by the government.
Sacrifice
The Managing Director of Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited, Dr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, for his part, underscored the need for local industries to respond appropriately to the improvement in the macro-economic stability.
“The one-district, one-factory policy by the government is a good initiative but it is not going to be easy to do it without the element of sacrifice. Major steps aimed at industrialising the economy have failed because we are not ready to sacrifice for a while to reap the benefits later,” he said.