These are the “one district, one factory” initiative; the Limited access to large hectares of land and the absence of land banks; and finally the chamber’s Sealink Project.”

The president of the chamber said this when he led a delegation to pay a courtesy call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in Accra last Wednesday.

The three areas

On the “one district, one factory” initiative, Nana Dankawoso I described the move as laudable and noted that; “We are excited about government’s recognition of the private sector as the engine for growth. We have been engaging our members, as well as international investors to leverage the opportunities under this initiative.”

However, he said, information with regard to the implementation of that initiative was not yet available. “We call on government to involve the chamber in the design and execution of this initiative.

“We look forward to engaging the Trade and Industry Minister, Mr Alan Kyerematen, on this initiative. The chamber is of the firm conviction that the initiative will create jobs, stimulate economic activity and promote exports and import substitution,” he added.

Secondly, Nana Dankawoso said the government’s call for agriculture modernisation was a step in the right direction.

He stated; “If Ghana wants to prosper, our farmers must prosper. We must make sure our farmers are rich. If they are poor, we will continue to be poor.”

He noted, however, that limited access to large tracts of land and the absence of land banks remained a challenge to commercial farming.

“Many of our members and investors have had to abandon their investment decisions to engage in commercial farming owing to this challenge. We call on government to, as a matter of urgency, tackle our land-tenure system, as well as create land banks to attract and sustain investment in commercial farming,” he stressed.

The third issue the chamber president mentioned was that the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce, through the Federation of West Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI), was spearheading the establishment of a new regional shipping line under the name, Sealink Promotional Company Limited.

“Sea transportation is one of the cheap means to cart goods from one economic region to the other. However, inadequate sea transportation infrastructure has limited trade between and within regional blocs in Africa. Currently, trade within West Africa accounts for 12 per cent.

Against this background, he said, an efficient and barrier-free intra and inter-regional trade was critical for regional economies of West and Central Africa to effectively grow and compete at the global level.

Govt optimistic

President Akufo-Addo said industry and agriculture were the “two principal focuses of our policy and we believe that they are the two most effective ways that can grow our economy and also deal with the issues of unemployment, which is a major problem in our country”.

He said the government sees the chamber as a “natural ally of what we are trying to do and that is why I said I see that there’s a common understanding of what we are trying to do,” adding that; “What we are doing is to build the Ghanaian private sector so that it could take the frontline role in the process of social and economic transformation of our country.”