Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has urged Chinese investors to support Ghana’s industrialisation drive by investing in the local processing of the country’s raw materials to create jobs and increase economic value.
She said Ghana had significant opportunities in the processing of cocoa, shea nuts, cashew nuts, coconut, timber and other natural resources, stressing the need to move beyond exporting raw materials to producing finished and semi-finished goods.
Addressing Chinese business executives in Shanghai, the Vice President said local processing would help Ghana create employment, strengthen its manufacturing sector and derive greater economic benefits from its natural resources.
She cited timber processing as an example, explaining that Ghana could generate more value by manufacturing furniture and other finished wood products instead of exporting logs.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang said Ghana needed to align its technical and vocational education with the demands of industry to ensure that trained young people had opportunities to apply their skills.
“Training people for jobs that do not exist is training them for unemployment,” she said.
She emphasised that investment in productive industries was essential to absorbing the growing number of technically trained young people and preventing frustration arising from a lack of employment opportunities.
The Vice President said Ghana was open to mutually beneficial partnerships with Chinese businesses, particularly in manufacturing, logistics and other productive sectors capable of supporting sustainable economic growth.
She also highlighted the opportunities available to investors through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which provides a framework for expanding trade across the African market.
Ghana’s position as a gateway to the wider African market, she said, offered Chinese investors opportunities to establish businesses that could serve customers beyond the country’s borders.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang stressed, however, that investment partnerships must deliver tangible benefits to both countries, including employment, productive capacity and stronger business opportunities for Ghanaians.
She also raised the need for greater Ghanaian participation in businesses linked to China, questioning the opportunities available to Ghanaian traders operating in the Chinese market and whether they could secure stakes in the businesses they supported.
The meeting formed part of Ghana’s efforts to deepen economic engagement with China and attract investment into sectors capable of transforming the country’s raw materials into higher-value products.
Ghana produces commodities including cocoa, cashew, shea and timber, alongside mineral resources such as bauxite, lithium and diamonds. Expanding domestic processing and manufacturing has the potential to create jobs, strengthen local industries and increase the value retained within the economy.
The Vice President’s engagement with Chinese business executives underscored Ghana’s interest in partnerships that go beyond the export of raw materials to support industrial development, skills utilisation and sustainable job creation.
Story by : Akora Kofi Darko
