By Maxwell Ofori
Ghana’s non-oil export to the United States (US) is expected to increase to US$500 million, from the current US$12 million, by 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated.
According to him, the government was also in the process of finalising a new strategy and action plan geared towards exploiting the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which was signed about 17 years ago, to increase the country’s export volume to the US market.
The President announced this at the launch of the Ghana Apparel Manufacturing Expansion project, under the Global Development Alliance (GAME-GDA), in Accra yesterday. He indicated that the country had not fully utilised the benefits of AGOA, and had not seen any significant gains from the trade policy.
To this end, he gave the assurance that the trend was “going to change. We are working to put in place measures to ensure that we take full advantage of the U.S. market, through the AGOA initiative.”
According to him, though the target to increase the country’s trade volume, from US$12 million to US$500 million under the policy, was ambitious, it was achievable, as his government would commit to achieving it by the year it had targeted.
According to him, not only would the new strategy increase the country’s export volumes and correct the balance of trade, but also create hundreds of jobs for Ghanaians. President Akufo-Addo further expressed the NPP government’s commitment to develop the textile and garment industry to make it a strategic anchor industry for the country’s industrialisation.
He also commended Dignity DTRT Limited, the Ghanaian company undertaking the GAME-GDA project, in collaboration with the USAID, for the initiative.
“From being a start-up company a few years ago, it is now poised to export more than US$30 million worth of clothing by the end of the year 2018, and has already employed some 1,500 people, expected to be scaled up to reach 5,000. This is commendable, but we must not stop here,” he said.
The US clothing market, the President observed, was worth US$100 billion a year, and indicated that the countries of eastern and southern Africa were currently exploiting the market, exporting several billions of dollars of clothing every year.
“We, in Ghana and West Africa, must match them. The opportunity is considerable, and we need to grab hold of it,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said the government’s agenda for job creation would be underpinned by investing in skills development, value added industrial development, and promoting exports.
He expressed the government’s commitment to support DTRT and other textile and garment businesses and enterprises across the country to create jobs that provide security for individuals, families and communities.
“Our goal is constant. We aim to unlock the full potential of the private sector and the Ghanaian sense of enterprise to create jobs and prosperity for all Ghanaians, and to position Ghana as the preferred investment destination.”
The GAME-GDA project, a cooperative agreement between the USAID and Dignity DTRT Limited, is expected to provide training for 1,337 people, and create 1,187 new apparel-making jobs for mostly women who lack job skills and come from low income backgrounds.
On his part the US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson, said: “We are pleased to support Dignity/DTRT’s expansion, which will create jobs and result in the expansion of DTRT’s AGOA eligible exports from Ghana by, at least, US$20 million annually.”
“The new line of exports is not just an expansion of the current production of polo shirts and T-shirts. The new fleece programme represents an expansion into a whole new product line, requiring four and half times the sewing minutes and workers needed before.”
“Dignity-DTRT is positioned to continue its expansion, and to grow rapidly over the next several years. The joint venture plans to bring a fully vertical world-class manufacturing operation to Ghana before 2020 that can offer yarn-forward solutions, so that fabric will no longer have to be imported to Ghana from China or elsewhere,” he said.
By Maxwell Ofori Ghana’s non-oil export to the United States (US) is expected to increase to US$500 million, from the current US$12 million, by 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated. According to him, the government was also in the process of finalising a new strategy and action plan geared towards exploiting the US African […] Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS