Identify Raw Materials For Industrialization, Ministers Urges Local Authorities

Mr Samuel Kwakye-Darfuor, the Eastern Regional Minister, has called on all the 26 municipal and district assemblies within the region to identify potential commodities to be used to base the one-factory one district project.

He said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) has received proposals from business and financial institutions in the region and urged the municipal and district assemblies to take a careful look at the raw materials abundant in their respective districts.

Mr Kwakye-Darfuor said this at the media launch of the upcoming trade and exhibition fair dubbed ‘Brand Eastern for Export” scheduled to be hosted at the Jackson Park in Koforidua from September 9-14.

The fair would showcase products of the region and brand them for export promotion.
He said government is not oblivious of the numerous challenges facing the private sector and industry hence the two billion dollar fund from the Chinese government.

He said the NBSSI would also be restructured to play a vital role in setting up industries and these are some of the measures being made by government to support businesses.

Mrs Doris Asetena Mensah, Eastern Regional Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said the fair was to showcase the potentials of the region and to link craftsmen and small scale entrepreneurs to the one district one factory policy and promote exports from industries in the region.

She said over 200 companies are billed to participate in the exhibition and appealed to the media to support them reach out to the public.

Mr Kwaku Adarkwah-Peprah, a representative of the NBSSI, said plans are advanced to establish business incubators in all the 10 regions to support the youth and students in schools who show potentials in entrepreneurship and craftsmanship.

Nana Somuah Mireku-Nyampong, Eastern Regional Representative on the Council of State, who performed the launching, said the region abounds in both natural and human resource and expressed the hope that the fair would unearth useful commodities for the establishment of factories and help create jobs for the youth.