The Ministry of Trade and Industry says it will aggressively implement its Strategic Anchor Industries Initiatives next year to propel the country’s industrial transformation.

These initiatives, according to Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, Minister of Trade and Industry, would focus on petrochemical, integrated aluminum and bauxite, iron and steel, vehicle assembly and automotive industry, garments and textiles and pharmaceuticals industries.

Others are vegetable oils and fats, particularly oil palm, industrial starch from cassava, industrial chemicals based on industrial salt, machinery and equipment manufacturing industries.

The minister made this known when he led a delegation of some of the leading global textile and garment companies who visited Ghana last week to a tour of selected industries.

The delegation included senior representatives of three of the largest apparel brands: Vanity Fair, PVH and H&M. These companies have combined annual revenue of over $30 billion in 2018.

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

As contained in the 2020 Budget and Economic Policy Statement of the government, Mr Kyerematen explained that the initiative was one of the key components of the 10-Point Industrial Transformation Plan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

He said it was designed to diversify and transform the economy by creating new pillars of growth and expansion in the industrial sector.

He noted that the Ghana Automotive Development Policy launched in August this year, has so far attracted investments and commercial interests from global original equipment manufacturers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Renault, Hyundai, Sinotruck and Suzuki.

The policy, the minister said, would also support existing local auto assemblers such as the Kantanka Group.

To complement the policy, he disclosed that an automobile industry development unit has been established at the ministry 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 general public.

Mr Kyerematen said a programme of action would also be launched to attract strategic investors into the various sectors to ensure sustainability and global competitiveness of Ghana’s industry.

Additionally, the ministry, he stated, was working in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Corporation to attract investments in the aluminium, bauxite, iron and steel downstream sectors to act as the backbone of the country’s infrastructure development.