By Hafsa Obeng, GNA
Accra, Sept. 19, GNA – The European Union (EU) has hosted an agribusiness seminar on the sidelines of the 2024 Ghana Industrial Summit and Exhibition (GISE) to support private sector development and investment flows between the EU and Ghana,
The seminar, on the theme, “Promoting industrial development and digitalization of the Ghanaian agribusiness sector: challenges and opportunities”, was organised in partnership with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the EU-Ghana Agribusiness Platform, managed by Eurocham Ghana.
Mr Irchad Razaaly, European Union Ambassador to Ghana, said the seminar would provide the platform to discuss topics on digitalization and industrialization of the agribusiness sector and provide operators and experts a forum to exchanges ideas and business opportunities.
He said “our experience at the EU clearly shows the impact that digitalization is having on various industries and agribusiness, saying agriculture is one of the major priorities for Ghana-EU partnerships with over 144 million euro committed to Ghana by the EU towards enhancing sustainable agriculture since 2021.
“For 5 years running, the EU has been a major partner of the Ghana Industrial Summit and Exhibition because it invests in private sector development and entrepreneurship, which is one more major priority of our partnership with Ghana.” Mr. Razaaly stated.
Dr. Humphrey Ayim-Darke, President, AGI, called for proactive policies to ensure that agriculture and raw materials remain central to the promotion of competitive value chains.
“Equally important are other value chains such as the textile, pharmaceutical, iron, bauxite and the automobile of which about five automobile companies are growing their value chains which needs promotion.”
He added that “some of the automobile parts could be produced locally to save us forex while creating jobs. In the case of textiles, we need to deepen the value chains from the cotton production stage to the production of the yarns as raw materials for the textile industry.”
The European Union also has a stand at the GISE, highlighting some of its programmes in the agribusiness sector.
The seminar later saw a presentation of research findings focused on digitalization of the agribusiness sector in Ghana carried out by Dr. Rose Omari, Senior Research Scientist at the Science and Technology Policy Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
GNA