The United Kingdom High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Iain Walker, has pledged the UK government’s support to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to make Kumasi a leading industrial hub of West Africa.
He said Kumasi occupied a very important place in Ghana’s development
for which reason the UK would continue to put the city’s development in
focus.
Mr Walker said this when the UK and the Ghana government
signed a new strategic partnership agreement focusing on six economic
areas of mutual benefits under the UK-Ghana Business Council (UK-GBC).
The
agreement, which was signed after a regional business forum in Kumasi,
covers six sectors, namely agribusiness, extractive, garment/textile,
digital, pharmaceutical and financial service.
It is under three themes made up of domestic revenue mobilisation, ease of doing business and infrastructure.
Signatories
The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Kumasi, Mr Osei Assibey Antwi, and Mr Walker signed for their respective countries.
The
forum focused on the Ashanti Region where the UK government had
supported some major projects, including the Kejetia Market, the
expansion of the Kumasi Airport and the construction of Bekwai Hospital.
Currently,
the UK is also helping to complete the 47-year-old abandoned maternity
block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) with a credit
facility of 140 million Euro.
Under the framework, the forum was
to build a shared understanding of priorities on economic development,
job creation, trade and investment.
Mr Walker expressed
excitement that the two countries were talking about practical steps to
expand their frontiers from “government to government, to regional as
well as to the municipal levels.
Partnership
The
KMA boss said the assembly would welcome UK commercial partners for
upcoming projects to develop high risk parking facilities, international
convention centres and real estate properties in and around the city.
He
said the agreement tied into the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda of President
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, which was being vigorously pursued.
“The
relationship between Ghana and the UK is rooted in a long-standing
economic, political and cultural connections, their shared values and
deep links between their people,” the MCE said.
He said with
about half a million Ghanaians based in the UK , and UK businesses
operating in Ghana, there was the opportunity for the UK and Ghana to
work to promote democracy, good governance and the rule of law to
counter any transnational threats such as climate change and narcotics
trafficking.
Appeal
Mr Antwi appealed to
the UK government to assist in providing more lorry terminals and also
put up a multi-storey compartment in Kumasi to help decongest the city
centre.
He also touched on the establishment of factories in
Kumasi, saying, “Kumasi has grown to an extent that some factories which
hitherto were providing employment have now become defunct and need to
be reactivated.”
He called for support in that area as well as
an appeal to the UK to help set up a diagnostic plant in the health
sector to reduce the number of Ghanaians travelling to South Africa to
seek such medical care.
The MCE said the aim of the relationship
was to help Ghana manage its natural resources in such a way that it
would be able to finance its projects without being over-reliant on
external assistance.