Asantehene Outlines Profitable Industries In Ghana That Require Canadian Assistance

Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has urged Canada to take advantage of the numerous opportunities for collaboration that are available in Ghana.

This came after he was visited at the Manhyia Palace on January 17, 2025, by HE Myriam Montrat, the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana. The High Commissioner reiterated her nation’s pledge to assist Ghana’s economy.

“We want to do all we can to help support the economy and bring some of our technical expertise that can be shared and the knowledge for the people and the Ashanti Region to prosper,” she said in her remarks.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II also listed the economic sectors that urgently require support and cooperation for reciprocal growth.

Asantehene went on to emphasize cooperation in technical education, an area in which he believes Canada is an expert.

As universities continue to produce graduates, he grumbled about the nation’s rising unemployment rate every year.

“We have a lot of students unemployed after school, where do we put them because the public and private sectors are full. It’s either we collaborate to identify what courses should be taught in these schools so that after education they can self-employ and set employment systems. Those are areas I seek collaboration.”

Additionally, he proposed a partnership between Canadian universities and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for long-distance research.

In order to restore lost vegetative covers and clean up contaminated waterways brought on by illicit mining operations in Ghana, the Occupant of the Golden Stool also requested technical assistance.

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Otumfuo informed the envoy about agriculture, another promising industry. According to him, the lack of resources and technology required for agriculture, along with the challenges in obtaining investment capital, renders the sector unappealing to young people.

“We have the available manpower but unfortunately, we don’t have the know-how in terms of the fiscal space to transform our fortune. Agriculture, for instance, we train students in Agriculture, but the attraction is not there because we don’t have the resources…The banks don’t have the capacity to do it. They are into buying treasury bills and it doesn’t advance development.”

Therefore, the King inquired as to how Canada could help Ghana use productive areas to advance development.