The outgoing Minister for Trade and Industry Alan Kyeremanten has inaugurated the Automotive Industry Development Council.
The Automotive Industry Development Council is a stakeholder council for the country’s automobile industry.
Speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate the council, Thursday, 12 January 2022, in Accra, the outgoing Minister acknowledging the skepticism that greeted government’s announcement to establish the automotible industry in Ghana, indicated that the sector has thrived regardless.
“I‘m pleased today that skepticism has given way to optimism but we have not gotten here by chance. There are a number of critical success factors that have made today possible,” he said.
Enumerating the success factors that have culminated in the thriving of the country’s automobile sector despite the initial skepticism, Mr Kyeremanten stressed on the Akufo-Addo-led government’s commitment and vision.
“The vision of the political commitment of the current government. It is not by accident that the most advanced economies in the world also happen to be the leading countries in the automobile assembling and manufacturing sector and you can count them. From the United States to China, to Japan to Germany to France, India, Brazil. So there must be a correlation between economic growth and development and the development of the auto industry.
“So we in Ghana have made a decision that we want to follow that path because we want to play in the big league and that is why as part of government’s industrial transformation agenda, we identified a number of strategic anchor industries that will diversify our economy away from cocoa and gold and one of these strategic anchor industries is the automotive industry. So political commitment and vision is the foundation of the success of this particular enterprise and initiative,” he revealed.
The Minister further stressed that government also developed a comprehensive automotive policy which drew global auto companies into the country to ensure the success of the industry.
“That commitment and the vision must be accompanied by policy infrastructure. Without policy your vision cannot be realised and so right at the beginning of our first term in office we, developed a very comprehensive automotive policy and it is this policy that has attracted most of the global auto companies into Ghana.
“The policy has also been reinforced by the legislative framework which is what allows the incentives that come with being part of this industry to be possible,” he said.
Mr Kyeremanten also underscored how the automobile industry is one of the most difficult ones to develop.
“Your capacity to engage stakeholders. This is probably one of the most difficult and sensitive industries to develop all over the world. Because we have so many players, so many stakeholders and it is a very delicate balancing act to ensure that you keep the interest of all these stakeholders aligned to enable you have a vibrant and dynamic industry.”
He further noted that government has been able to create an enabling environment for the automobile industry to thrive in Ghana.
“We’re pleased that we’ve had the cooperation and collaboration of the varied stakeholders and that’s why in fact we’re here today.
“As government, we have put in place the standards and the regulatory framework to ensure that we compete with the best in the world,” the aspiring presidential candidate stated.