Trade Ministry to prioritise Strategic Anchor Industries Initiatives next year

The Ministry of Trade and Industry will next year advance the transformation of Ghana to an industrial status by giving greater impetus to the implementation of its Strategic Anchor Industries Initiatives (SAIIs).

Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, the sector Minister, stated this when he led a high-level delegation of some of the leading global Textile and Garment companies, who visited Ghana last week, on a tour to some selected industries.

The delegation included Senior Representatives of three of the largest Apparel Brands: Vanity Fair, PVH and H&M.

The combined annual revenue of these companies was reported to be worth more than $30 billion in 2018.

The visit was to explore the sourcing of opportunities and to consider establishing a vertically integrated textile and garment industry in Ghana on a long-term basis.

The SAIIs, captured in the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament, is one of the key components of the Ten-Point Industrial Transformation Plan of the Ministry, designed to diversify and transform the economy through new pillars of growth and expansion in the industrial sector.

Highlighting the initiatives, Mr Kyerematen mentioned the key strategic industries under them as: Petrochemical, Integrated Aluminum and Bauxite, Iron and Steel, Vehicle Assembly and Automotive Industry, Garments and Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Vegetable Oils and Fats (in particularly Oil Palm), Industrial Starch from Cassava, Industrial Chemicals based on Industrial Salt, Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing.

He said the Ministry launched the Ghana Automotive Development Policy, in August this year, which had so far attracted investments and commercial interests from global OEMs (Original Equipment manufacturers) including Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Renault, Hyundai, Sinotruck and Suzuki.

“The Policy will also support existing local auto assemblers such as the Kantanka Group,” he explained.

An Automobile Industry Development Unit (Auto Unit) has been established at the Ministry of Trade and Industry to act as a One-Stop Shop to coordinate the implementation of the programme and facilitate engagements with Assemblers, Component Manufacturers and Suppliers, Auto Dealerships and Distributors, Vehicle Financing Institutions and the public.

Mr Kyerematen assured the private sector community that in 2020, activities would be intensified on the implementation of all key ongoing Strategic Anchor Industrial programmes being implemented by the Ministry.

A programme of action would also be launched to attract strategic investors into these sectors to ensure the sustainability and global competitiveness of Ghana’s industry.

In addition, in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Corporation, the Ministry would pursue programmes to attract investments to develop the aluminium, bauxite, iron and the steel downstream sectors to act as the backbone of the country’s infrastructure development.