Stakeholders at a high-level retreat for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) in the Volta Region have outlined a clear roadmap to accelerate exports, deepen value addition, and scale agro-processing — with particular emphasis on rice production, import substitution, and food security.

Speaking at the preparatory retreat held at Eli Beach Hotel, Chief Executive Officer of Exim Bank, Sylvester Adinam Mensah, said the Bank’s interventions are aimed at mobilising financing for export-oriented projects while strengthening local processing capacities that create jobs and conserve foreign exchange.

“Our main task is to accelerate exports in order to generate enough foreign exchange. But critically, we are also interested in value addition and supporting agro-processing as well as import substitution… The whole idea is to ensure food security whilst generating employment for the masses of our people, and these are the cardinal areas that we are focusing on,” Mr Mensah said.

The retreat, described as a preview to the maiden Volta Economic Forum scheduled for October 31, 2025, at the Redington Hotel, gathered 18 MMDCEs from across the region for intensive training and stakeholder engagement. The programme is intended to equip local leaders with tools to package and market investment opportunities to private sector players, diplomats, and national policymakers.

Programme Coordinator Francis Senanu Dekutse said the retreat was a preparatory platform to ensure political and administrative leaders are ready to take advantage of the wider push for a 24-hour economy along the Volta economic corridor.

“This is a preview of the main Volta Economic Forum. We organised this retreat to train MMDCEs so they are ready to drive the Volta corridor initiative and to ensure the whole region, not just a few districts, benefits from our work,” he explained.

He added that the Volta Corridor Investment Forum will continue convening quarterly and semi-annually to sustain investor engagement and fast-track project implementation.

Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, Volta Region representative to the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), stressed the importance of preparation in governance, urging MMDCEs to adopt business-minded strategies and forge private sector partnerships that translate commitments into real projects and jobs.

The retreat’s agenda focused on priority interventions, including:

Financing mechanisms for agro-processing and value addition, especially in rice and other staples;

Measures to promote import substitution and expand local processing for domestic and export markets;

Strategies to leverage the 24-hour economy and position the Volta corridor as an attractive investment destination;

Infrastructure upgrades, road improvements, and programmes targeting women and youth empowerment;

A sustained investor engagement plan to attract capital from Accra and beyond.

Organisers said the retreat was designed to ensure MMDCEs can identify viable projects, present credible plans, and secure investor commitments that lead to implementation. The October forum is expected to bring together Ghana’s investment community to explore opportunities in the Volta Region and agree on next steps with local authorities.

As Exim Bank and regional planners push the value-addition and export agenda, the ambition is twofold: protect national food supplies while creating employment and growing foreign exchange earnings through competitive, processed agricultural exports. The outcomes of the October forum will be closely watched by private investors and development partners seeking to back commercially viable projects in the region.