The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, has called for African countries to make their investment opportunities more attractive for investors.
He emphasized the importance of value addition in the growth of the mineral infrastructure and urged African countries to move away from the “dig and ship” approach.
Speaking at a Ministerial Symposium panel discussion at the ongoing “African Mining Indaba” conference in Cape Town, South Africa, the Minister stressed the need for both value addition and local participation. He highlighted the importance of providing the necessary infrastructure and environment for investors to operate, optimize, and maximize benefits shared equitably.
Mr. Jinapor also emphasized the need for a solid and consistent rail system, reliable infrastructure, and power systems to effectively attract private entities.
Using Ghana as a case study, he explained the importance of a policy framework to ensure effective resource exploitation and management, citing the country’s efforts to build an integrated aluminum industry supervised by President Akufo-Addo as an example.
The Minister also addressed the challenge some African countries face with changing government policies and stressed the need for sustainable policies in the continent’s best interest.
In discussing private sector participation and investment in Ghana, he mentioned the successful establishment of an automobile industry, attributing it to a sensible policy framework that aligns with the primary goal of private sector investments – making a profit.
He advocated for synchronizing policy frameworks across Africa to universally promote value addition and cited the joint effort of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in structuring a common market pricing on cocoa as a positive example of African collaboration for growth.
Mr. Jinapor and the other panelists also agreed on a new perspective for the mining sector investment in Africa, envisioning a shift from the “rich Africa with poor Africans” model to one resulting in “rich Africans from rich Africa,” catalyzed by mining.
The Ministerial Symposium is a high-level, invite-only policy roundtable that aims to strengthen collaboration between government, investors, and the private sector to develop and discuss a shared vision for Africa’s future sustainable mining and mineral value supply chains.
