The United Kingdom (UK) and Ghana have signed a new partnership agreement to help accelerate the 24-Hour Economy policy of the government. 

It deepens the bilateral cooperation between the two countries on industrialisation under the UK-Ghana Partnership for Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET) programme.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, when Senior UK and Ghanaian government officials convened at the British High Commissioner’s Residence in Accra for the bi-annual UK-Ghana JET Steering Committee Meeting.

The committee is co-chaired by the Deputy Minister of Trade, Agribusiness & Industry (MoTAI), Sampson Ahi, and Development Director at the British High Commission, Accra, Richard Sandall, and the meeting brought together key stakeholders, including MoTAI, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), the 24-Hour Economy Secretariat, British International Investment (BII) and the British High Commission.

Commitment

The event reaffirmed a shared commitment to deepen bilateral ties, drive industrialisation, and boost UK investment in Ghana’s manufacturing and agro-processing sectors.

At the event, the Chief Commercial Officer at MoTAI, Kofi Addo, signed the agreement for Ghana while Richard Sandall initialed for the UK.

The JET programme continues to catalyse investment and job creation in Ghana’s manufacturing and agro-processing sectors, reinforcing the UK’s role as a key development partner.

The Steering Committee reviewed progress under the UK’s flagship JET Programme, which has supported over 7,000 job creation and catalysed more than £124 million in investment across Ghana’s priority manufacturing sectors.

“This agreement builds on the JET programme’s role as a trusted technical and investment partner, supporting policy reforms, attracting the needed private capital (both foreign and domestic) and connecting local partners with sources of finance, including the UK’s Development Finance institutions,” Mr Sandall said.

Initiative

Mr Sandall later told the media that the initiative had seen huge success in the auto sector over the years, and that with the support of the JET programme, “we have gone from having no international companies assembling cars in Ghana to 12 or 13 now present, and that's really because of the work of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, changing the policy, setting the framework, setting a direction and a vision, and attracting these companies to come in, and they're employing thousands of people, producing cars and generating a lot of revenue, both for people's incomes and tax revenue for the Government of Ghana.”

JET, he said, had set out to generate £50 million of additional investment in Ghana in those targeted sectors and had already smashed that.

“We think we can do more. The programme has another year to run. We would be looking at what and how we can extend that further,” he said.

Mr Ahi said Ghana welcomed the UK’s continued support as “we work to transform Ghana into a competitive manufacturing hub in West Africa”.

Focus

Mr Addo said the JET programme focused on some specific sectors of the economy.

They include the garment and textiles, automotive and pharmaceutical and aside from  those, the JET initiative has also supported in the business environment.

“So, as part of the JET programme, we are trying to make sure that our garment and textiles industries are positioned to be able to expand their production and then to be able to export in volumes,” he said.

Mr Addo, who is also the Director for Industries, said under the programme people were brought in to train apparel manufacturers so that they produced to meet the standard required in the US market or the European market.

He said because of the programme, many employment opportunities had been created in the garment sector.