Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, has revealed government’s plan to anchor industrialization in the country on the establishment of ten new industrial parks.
“It takes us to the next component of our transformation agenda which is to establish at least one major industrial park in each of the ten regions. If we are talking about enhancement of industrial production then obviously access to lands, energy must be a critical factor. That is why these industrial parks are actually important. The magic of Asia, China Korea are all about the establishment of industrial parks and special economic zones,” the Minister said.
Speaking at the commencement of a 2-day National Policy Summit in Accra yesterday, Alan Kyerematen explained that the move was geared towards enhancing industrial production across the ten regions and generally promoting export development.
Mr. Kyeremanten expatiated that “We are actually going to aggressively promote export development because if you produce, you should be able to sell. Although we have what I believe is quite a significant market, it’s still limited so we want to aggressively promote exports to take advantage of the enhanced production that is coming up,”.
According to the Trade and Industry Minister, each of the ten regions would have one park with the requisite facilities and flexible land schemes to facilitate the setting up of industries.
The initiative which draws heavily on similar models from Asia is expected to create thousands of jobs for Ghanaians.
Also speaking at the launch, the Minister for Information, Mr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, disclosed that the Summit would focus on the economy because it was the biggest challenge inherited by the Akufo-Addo administration and the sector that had received the biggest share of government’s policy attention in its first-three months.
“Having delivered a budget that commences the exercise of correcting the challenges of the economy and sows the seed for growth and jobs, we are now ready to tell our story and stimulate the needed partnership for results,” Mr Abdul-Hamid said.
The Minister for Business Development, Mr Mohammed Awal, who declared the Summit launched, indicated that the Summit would provide a platform for the interrogation of policies and programmes and the fostering of partnership between government and the private sector in the areas of finance, agriculture, trade and industry, energy, infrastructure and poverty eradication.
Mr Awal explained that the Economy and Finance Session would focus on showing how banks, contractors, taxpayers and industry would be affected by government’s macro-economic policy this year.
In addition, he said, the session would also show how private players could leverage the renewed business confidence following the tax cuts and focus their activities towards government’s priority areas.
The Summit will witness a total of six sessions, each dedicated to a specific subject and to providing targeted information to meeting the needs of specific stakeholders.
On energy, Mr Awal said, the Summit would engage Independent Power Producers interested in government’s alternative energy programmes as well as the Bulk Distributing Companies wanting to understand some of the new programmes.
Concerning Agriculture, Trade and Industry Session, he said the focus would be on providing details which would empower the private sector to participate in the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme and on how private players and potential employees could participate in the operationalization of the One-District-One-Factory Initiative.
Mr Awal said the session on poverty eradication would showcase how the local private sector could tap into the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme for local investment and growth.
A National Policy Summit to provide a platform for government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to engage stakeholders in their operations has been launched in Accra.
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