Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has unveiled the Ghana Skills for Jobs Initiative, a flagship youth employment programme designed to provide skilled labour for the country’s expanding industries.
“Across the world, Special Economic Zones have proven to be effective tools of transformation. Ghana must adapt these lessons to our own context.
“By investing in skills, we are ensuring our young people become the backbone of our industrialisation agenda,” the Minister said at the launch during the National Economic Zones Policy Roundtable in Accra on Thursday.
The programme is expected to train at least 15,000 young people every year, equipping them with technical and industry-relevant skills to boost Ghana’s industrialisation drive.
Mrs. Ofosu-Adjare further disclosed that her Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, is preparing a Cabinet Memorandum to secure approval for an investor-friendly Special Economic Zones (SEZ) framework.
According to her, the roadmap will tackle persistent bottlenecks in Ghana’s manufacturing sector, including high production costs, limited access to finance, and low technology adoption.
She also announced that specific policy frameworks for textiles and garments, automotive components, and pharmaceuticals are being finalised for Cabinet consideration.
In addition, she noted that the ongoing review of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act will help modernise the country’s investment regime and make it more competitive globally.