President Akufo-Addo and Fabrice Cambolive after the meeting at the Jubilee House in Accra. Photo By Gifty Ama Lawson
Efforts by the current Akufo-Addo administration to turn around the ailing economy of the country seem to be attracting the attention of some of the world’s leading automobile companies.
German automobile company, Volkswagen (VW) initially announced plans to set up a manufacturing and assembling plant in Ghana.
This was followed by similar announcements by Japanese company, Nissan and later Sinotruk from China.
Latest is the announcement by French automobile manufacturing giant, Renault, which has also decided to follow the footsteps of the other global giants to Ghana.
They are also considering the option of setting up manufacturing plants in sub-Saharan Africa and want them to be in Ghana.
The announcement was made by Senior Vice President and Chairman of the Africa-Middle-East-India (AMI) Region at Renault, Fabrice Cambolive, when he called on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House yesterday.
“For us, we are now here to see if our capacity to bring our products to this country is marching with your policy, and if it’s okay, we will be delighted to do that,” he said.
In his short stay in the country, Mr. Cambolive said, “I have noticed a lot of values in the country and they are very important to us; I hope that we will be able to concretize it in a really hard project, not a short term project but a long term project, and if everything is matching, we will come back to you as soon as possible.”
President Akufo-Addo described the announcement as good news to Ghana.
He talked of the friendly economic conditions that his administration has managed to put in place for the private sector to blossom.
“We are the second largest economy in West Africa; so there are lots and lots of reasons why Ghana is a well-positioned place for you. We are looking upon ourselves as the gateway to West Africa to a market of some 350 million people which is scheduled to go up to 500 million people by the year 2030, so we think that it will be a good place for you to make it,” he affirmed.
Renault, a French multinational automobile manufacturer, was established in 1899.
Headquartered in Boulogne – Billancourt, near Paris, the Renault Group is made up of the name sake Renault Marque and subsidiaries, Alpine, Automobile Dacia from Romania, Renault Samsung Motors from South Korea and Avto VAZ from Russia.
The French government owns a 15% share in Renault, which produces a range of cars and vans.
In the past, it manufactured trucks, tractors, tanks, buses/coaches and auto rail vehicles.
According to the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, in 2016, Renault was the ninth biggest automaker in the world by production volume.
By 2017, the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance had become the world’s biggest seller of light vehicles, pushing Volkswagen AG off the top spot.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent