Yokohama: Mr Alexander Roosevelt Hotordze, Member of Parliament for Central Tongu, has called on Japan and the international community to support President John Dramani Mahama's 24-Hour Economy policy, describing it as a bold initiative to drive Ghana's economic transformation.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr Hotordze, speaking at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama, expressed appreciation to the government and people of Japan for their longstanding financial and technical support to Ghana. He outlined the proposed 24-Hour Economy as a private sector-led strategy designed to maximise productivity, create sustainable jobs, expand the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and reduce crime.
Mr Hotordze detailed that the policy would be anchored on four pillars: Grow-24, involving the cultivation of more than two million hectares of land; Make-24, centred on the establishment of agro-industrial parks along the Volta Lake; Show-24, focusing on the development of tourism clusters on the Volta River; and Connect-24, which seeks to transform the Volta Lake into a major transportation corridor linking the North and South, as well as East and West.
He highlighted the government's role in providing seed funding, bulk infrastructure, and strict monitoring to ensure sustainability. Mr Hotordze emphasized the immense opportunities for partnership, specifically inviting the Japanese private sector to invest in this policy.
Mr Hotordze, who also serves as Chairman of Parliament's Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism and a Governing Board Member of the Data Protection Commission, stressed the practicality and achievability of the initiative, urging Japanese partners to work with Ghana to unlock its full potential.
TICAD serves as a platform that brings together African leaders, development partners, and the Japanese government to deepen cooperation in trade, investment, and sustainable development.
