Hon. Alan Kyerematen, the minister of trade and industry, has urged African leaders to create a new strategic plan to improve the prospects for industrialization on the continent.
Mr. Kyeremanteng, who has worked to ensure that Ghana’s One District One Factory (1D1F) program has been successfully implemented, asked African leaders to develop a master plan to accelerate the industrial revolution on their continent.
The trade minister stated that industrialisation is the most reliable way to lower poverty and unemployment on the continent during the 17th Extra Ordinary Session of the Africa Union (AU) on Industrialization and Economic Diversification in Niamey, Niger.
Africa still accounts for just 1.9% of global manufacturing and has less than 4% of global trade, while controlling the majority of the world’s strategic mineral resources, almost 60% of all arable lands, the most extensive water bodies, and some of the finest forest resources.
“Africa needs to industrialize and value-add to its natural resources in order to resolve this conundrum. The fact that the most industrialized countries also have the strongest economy in the world is not a coincidence.
Hon. Alan Kyerematen said at the continental, “It is against this backdrop that I wish to congratulate highly the efforts of the AU Commission in creating a new push for the industrialisation of our continent.”
He acknowledged that, among other things, industrialisation requires a significant investment of financial resources, but he challenged African leaders to take steps to make this possible.
Excellences, as we all know, industrialization doesn’t just happen overnight or by accident. Only if we deliberate, persist, and make systematic efforts at the regional and national levels can Africa industrialize. In this regard, I will urge the African Union Commission to start developing a fresh strategic plan for industrializing Africa while taking lessons from the AIDA implementation process.
Without financial investment, Africa cannot industrialize. Therefore, the Trade and Industry Department noted, “African governments will need to implement business regulation reforms that will draw private capital, both domestic and foreign, into industrial development operations.
He used Ghana as a case study and mentioned how the One District One Factory produced the full 10 points for industrialization there.
The flagship “One District One Factory” Initiative, which aims to decentralize industrialization, and the creation of Strategic Anchor Industries, which aims to diversify the Ghanaian economy away from cocoa and gold, are two of the Comprehensive Ten Point Plan for Industrial Transformation that we have launched and are putting into action in Ghana. Mr. Kyerematen stated that Ghana is “ready and eager to share our experiences with sister African countries.”