President John Dramani Mahama has announced a new policy direction aimed at ending the export of Ghana’s mineral ores in their raw form by 2030, positioning local processing as the centerpieces of his government’s industrial and jobs agenda.

Addressing the Accra Reset Addis Reckoning event in Addis Ababa on Saturday, February 14, President Mahama stressed the need for Ghana to stop shipping out unprocessed resources and instead build the capacity to refine and add value locally.

He explained that the strategy is already being applied to the cocoa sector, which he admitted is facing major challenges, prompting an emergency meeting in Ghana before his trip to Addis Ababa.

President Mahama indicated his government’s decision to stop relying on foreign funding arrangements for cocoa purchases and shift to domestic financing through bonds.

According to him, the new approach will ensure that local processors receive enough cocoa beans to expand production, create jobs, and strengthen Ghana’s value chain.

We have the capacity to process 400,000 tonnes of beans, but because those beans are collateralised, we cannot allocate those beans to the local processors, so we have to ship all the beans outside. Since we produce the beans, we can provide the local processors with 400,000 tonnes of our beans to add value.

I say in 2030 there will be no mineral ore leaving Ghana. We are not going to ship manganese ore, bauxite, iron ore out of Ghana raw. You must process all that locally. That is the only way we can provide opportunities for our people, he said