As government sets out to transform Ghana’s industrial sector through its 1 District 1 factory policy, the acting Director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr. Lloyd Adu Amoah, believes the sector can be revived by adopting strategies from Korea.

Ghana’s industrial sector recorded negative growth in recent years.

But Dr. Lloyd Amoah believes adopting the strategies of world economies like Korea will reverse the situation.

Speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of a conference on diplomatic bilateral relations between Ghana and Korea; 40 years on, Mr. Amoah said: “If you look at Korea today, you are looking at a country whose GDP ranges in the trillions, and for Ghana we are still in single digit billions.

Clearly the divergence is obvious, Korea is now an advanced economy producing cars and other high value technologies with the use of robotics.

Ghana’s industrial base has more or less collapsed. We recorded negative growth in the industrial sector two years ago. So we have a lot of work to do.”

“Korea had a string of leaders who managed to hold the agenda over a period of time, and that consistency and focus has made the difference. And that is the test for Ghana, and in this century it’s something that we must try to do.”

He noted that “We are having this conference so that we will be able to reflect on these things so that young Ghanaian students, scholars etc, can focus on these questions and develop capacity in this area. Let’s learn from this example,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Head of Korean Missions in Ghana, Lisa Han, recounted to Citi News projects undertaken in Ghana, saying they are signs of strong bilateral relations between the two countries.