The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Kobina Tahir Hammond, on Thursday, opened the Third Made-In-Ghana Bazaar in Accra; with a call on the public to patronise locally made products.

The three-day event, on the theme: "Promoting Made-In-Ghana Goods and Services for Economic Prosperity," is being organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Other supporting organisations are the Ghana Export Promotions Authority, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Association of Ghana Industries.

"I encourage each of you to patronise these Made-in-Ghana products and services, not just out of functionality and price but also with a sense of pride and patriotism," Mr Hammond said.

"By supporting your local businesses and artisans, you are not only satisfying your needs, but you are also investing in the local economy and strengthening as well as preserving our productive sectors for future generations.”

"Every purchase made here today helps to sustain livelihoods and promote productivity and sustainability in our communities," the Trade Minister added.

The Made-In-Ghana Bazaar seeks to promote Ghanaian products internationally, using the network of Ghana’s Diplomatic Missions.

The Bazaar, which is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, was launched in 2018 following the government’s decision to re-establish the Economic, Trade and Investment Bureau of the Ministry in 2017, pursuant to its economic and industrial transformation agenda.

The Bazaar brings together more than 150 exhibitors, and the products that are on display represent some of Ghana’s iconic product offerings in the local and international markets.

The products on exhibition at the Bazaar range from traditional crafts and artisanal works to manufactured products with cutting-edge technology.

Mr Hammond noted that since 2017, the government, led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had been working closely with the private sector to boost production in the industrial sector and expand market access, especially in sectors linked to processing local raw materials.

He said that had been aggressively pursued within the context of a comprehensive Industrial Transformation Agenda, which prioritised import substitution and export diversification as its twin objectives; saying: "Our value addition agenda is reaping impressive results".

He said the 2023 Annual Statistics Report on Non-Traditional Exports (NTEs) published by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) indicates that Manufactured and Semi-Processed products contributed 85.01 per cent of NTEs portfolio in 2023, whilst the Agricultural and Industrial Art and Craft (Handicrafts) sub-sectors contributed 12.57 per cent and 2.43 per cent, respectively.

He reiterated that this sustained dominance of manufactured and semi-processed products in the NTEs underscores the massive benefits accruing from prioritizing and deepening the value addition and industrialization initiatives of the Government.

He mentioned that foremost amongst these initiatives was the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative and that it was indeed a fitting example of how the Government could stimulate private sector investment in expanding manufacturing and job creation across several districts in Ghana.

Mr Hammond said there were 321 1D1F Projects at various stages of implementation, 169 of which were factories in operation, employing a total of 169,870 persons comprising both direct and indirect jobs, as well as contributing to import substitution and export diversification.

He underscored that this was a massive push of a diverse range of Made-in-Ghana products into the domestic and export markets.

He said major strides had also been made in attracting foreign and domestic investment partnerships into new strategic industries such as the Automotive Industry.

"Currently, 11 major global vehicle brands are assembled in Ghana, that is they proudly carry the Made in Ghana label. They include Volkswagen, Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan, Peugeot, Foton, Hyundai, Changan, KIA, Ashok Leyland and Honda," Mr Hammond.

He said those initiatives were strategic because they placed Ghana in a better position to be competitive domestically as well as in the regional market under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS).

Madam Mavis Nkansah Boadu, a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, in charge of Finance and Administration, said the goal of the bazaar was to facilitate the penetration of Ghanaian products and services into foreign markets through the network of Ghana’s Missions abroad and Diplomatic Missions accredited to Ghana.

That would invariably support the growth of Ghana’s Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) and provide them with the needed impetus to expand their reach into markets including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).