The Ministry of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiative (PSI) has developed a New Industrial Reform and Accelerated Growth Agenda to stimulate growth in the country's industrial and trade sectors.

The programme, which is in line with the ideals of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy Document, aims to propel Ghana to achieve a Gross Domestic Product growth rate target of about 8.6 per cent and a modest per capita income of 1,000 dollars in the medium-term.

Mr Allan Kyerematen, the Sector Minister, announced this when he spoke on: "Ghana's Trade and Industrial Policy Framework: New Responses to New Challenges" at the opening session of an Investment Forum on Ghana in Accra. The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) are jointly organizing the three-day Forum with sponsorship from the Japanese Government.

It is on the theme: "Ghana Your Profit Centre in West Africa: Developing Synergies between FDI and Local Private Sector Resources." Among the topics to be discussed are: "The Investment Climate in Ghana"; "Sectors of Investment"; "Project Financing Opportunities"; "Business Infrastructure in Ghana" and "Perspective of Regional and Local Market in the Light of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)".

Mr Kyerematen said the vision being established under this growth agenda was to develop a vibrant, technology-driven competitive industrial sector that would significantly contribute to economic growth and employment creation. He said this would involve mass mobilization of rural communities and other vulnerable groups that would lead to the diversification and structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy in a liberalized trade environment.

The Sector Minister said the growth agenda focused on two major strategies, these were, the development of an export-oriented industrialization drive and a comprehensive domestic market-oriented industrialization programme. "These strategies are being implemented through carefully selected programmes and projects which are seen as new strategic growth poles for our economy", he said.

Mr Kyerematen said the growth agenda together with a skilled and highly trainable manpower base coupled with Ghana's proximity to major markets in Europe and the United States, as well as the Sub-Regional market of 250 million people and the generous investment incentives made Ghana the investment destination of choice in Africa.

He pledged the country's continuous commitment to the aims of the World Trade Organisation, saying, however, that the country would participate in its meetings with the country's industrialization agenda in view to seek market access opportunities to boost exports.