Accra, July 7, GNA - The first consignment of garment produced under the President's Special Initiative (PSI) would hit the American Markets by the end of this month. For a start, 19,000 shirts and 19,000 trousers would be exported. The current production capacity is about 2,000 trousers and 2,000 shirts a day. The garment and textile initiative is expected to bring in about three billion dollars within a period of four years of operation. This came to light on Monday when Hajia Alima Mahama, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and President's Initiative visited the factory to get acquainted with the production process.

Nana Tweneboa-Boateng, Coordinator of the Garment and Textile segment, who conducted the Deputy Minister round, said the processing time, quality consciousness, and the need to expand or set up more factories were crucial to meet the international competitive market. He said currently the US alone imported about 70 billion dollars worth of garment every year with a total market demand of one million garments under the AGOA, something far above what Ghana could offer at present. Nana Tweneboa-Boateng said that currently the factory was training national service personnel with Higher National Diploma (HNDs) for supervisory and managerial positions. He said the government had injected huge capital into the project, adding, "preparations are underway to set up some of the factories in Kumasi and Takoradi before the end of this year.

Deputy Minister said the training programme for the trainees would equip them and create the ready pool of personnel not only for the factory but also for private investors, who might want to venture into garment and textile production. Hajia Mahama urged the trainees, especially the service personnel to take advantage of the situation after their training to form joint partnerships and set up businesses on their own instead of waiting to be provided with employment. She expressed satisfaction with the progress of the initiative so far and said it was a clear indication that the PSI was on course.