INTERNATIONAL - Japanese automaker Nissan signed a preliminary deal with Ghana on Tuesday to set up an assembly plant in the West African country, company officials and the government said.
Nissan is the biggest car seller in Ghana with a 32 percent market share and the company plans to make the country its sales hub in West Africa. It already has a plant in Nigeria.
“We see Ghana as the gateway to West Africa... we will grow our business presence in the region and it’s for the long term,” Mike Whitfield, Nissan’s managing director for Africa, told reporters after signing a memorandum of understanding with Ghana’s trade ministry.
He did not provide further details, saying only that the company’s plans would hinge on a national auto policy that the government is expected to launch by the end of the year.
Ghana’s Trade minister Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten said the government was considering incentives for Nissan in order to create a business environment that would allow the company to expand its presence.
German carmaker Volkswagen and China’s Sinotruk have also signed preliminary deals to build plants in Ghana.