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In an effort at regarding Ghana as a self-reliant nation, Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen has revealed that President Akufo-Addo has articulated the vision of a new “Ghana Beyond Aid”, designed at making the country self-sustaining anchored on inclusive growth and shared prosperity.
According to him, Ghanaians will realize this vision through Industrial Transformation particularly if it works towards creating an integrated market for Africa and for all Africans.
Speaking on the theme,“Industrialising Ghana Beyond Aid for an Integrated Africa” the Trade and Industry Minister said “Our focus will be on Industrialisation and how it feeds into the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda, and which will propel us to take advantage of the Continental Free Trade arrangement”
He also added that it is an incontestable fact that no country has developed without industrialization.
Hon. Kyerematen further added that it is therefore not by accident that the ten largest economies i.e United States, China, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom among others in the world are the most industrialized economies.
The Trade and Industry Minister said “In 1959, 104 out of 234 firms which operated in the immediate independent era were established before 1950, in the then Gold Coast (Ewusi,1981). Most of these firms were in the wood and cork industries, located mainly in the forest zones; Ashanti and Western Regions of the country”
He revealed that the first conscious effort on the part of the Gold Coast Government in the course of Industrialisation was the enactment of the Gold Coast Industrial Act of 1947, which established the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
He further disclosed that the objective of the Act was to formulate policies and drive the industrial development of the then Gold Coast adding that the IDC operated largely as a loan agency focusing on privately conceived projects.
Speaking on the State-led Import Substitution Industrialisation between 1960 and 1983, Hon Kyerematen disclosed that the declaration of the First Republic in 1960 ushered in a new model of industrialisation backed by Socialist ideals and principles.
“Nkrumah believed that the local private sector lacked the required capacity to promote the industrial development agenda under his regime, and that the State needed to play a catalytic and interventionist role to promote industrial development” he stated.The Trade and Industry Minister revealed that Late Nkrumah’s approach to Industrialization was therefore purely state led adding that it required intensive design of industrial programmes and massive investments into industries […]