NPP Flag-Bearer Meets AGI
NANA Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, flag-bearer of the New Patriotic Party has announced that if he is elected president he would institute an industrial development fund and that will be medium and long-term capital to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) in the country.
The fund, he said will receive a seed capital of one billion dollars and will take off within the first year of his leadership.
Nana Akufo-Addo said this when he took his turn at a programme, called an encounter with presidential candidates in Accra on Friday.
The programme, instituted by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) seeks to engage the presidential candidates for the 2008 election in discussions that will lead to the growth of the industrial sector.
Nana Akufo-Addo, whose document was titled, 'Industrial Development: My agenda for Ghana’s Transformation' further said that his government will introduce a legislation that will ensure that a significant purportion of loan portfolios of banks go to support SMEs.
'Also, we shall through legislation assemble an array of support measures for small industries under an SME Charter bill,' he stressed.
These, the presidential candidate mentioned are among a number of initiatives to address the myriad challenges confronting the industrial sector.
He further gave the assurance that his government will support the iron smeltering, aluminium and salt industries, which he said produce vital ingredients to many industries, by providing financial incentives as well as legal and regulatory reforms.
Nana Akufo-Addo also stressed that the development of a truly indigenous cement industry, producing at reasonable costs will give the country’s housing industry a significant boost that will help close the housing gap and in the process, provide employment to a lot more people in the sector.
Turning to the recent oil discovery, Nana Akufo-Addo said, the government will make the necessary investments to ensure the interests of industry and the public at large.
This, he said will be done by ensuring adequate reliable and affordable energy supply, investing in renewable energy to ensure against the drying up of the dams and assuring that businesses become the major beneficiaries of the expected five billion dollars of supplies and services required by the oil companies over the next three years.
He also said the government will among other things invest in educational institutions at all levels to support the training of tradesmen, technicians, agricultural extension workers, engineers, scientists and accountants as well as encouraging with incentives and resettlement assistance, where necessary, Ghanaians in the diaspora to return with the skills and resources to consult, attach, work and invest.
These, the presidential candidate explained will be part of their investment in manpower for industries.
On the continental level, he reiterated his government’s commitment to fully engage with the ECOWAS and the entire continent in continental integration to promote trade.
While throwing a challenge to entrepreneurs, he said his government will on its part move away from the present red tapeism when dealing with government to a red-carpet treatment for entrepreneurs.
He promised to hold quarterly meetings with leaders in industry to have constant dialogue on the way forward.
The president of AGI, Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, observed that in recent time dialogue between government and the association has improved to an unprecedented level and could even be deepened.
He said although the presidential candidates have a choice of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the AGI, such an MOU was not enforceable in a court of law but only a symbolic gesture to show the level of commitment the various political parties have towards the course.
The presidential candidate was accompanied by some of the former presidential aspirants and national executives of the party.