The Minister of Trade and Industry has reiterated government's commitment to encourage value addition to raw export products to enable Ghana to compete on the global market for more foreign exchange.
Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku said the thrust of government's export policy is aimed at encouraging the addition of value to products. "It is the wish of government, therefore, to encourage more Ghanaian firms to develop a culture and orientation for exporting quality products in order to achieve this objective," he said in a speech read on his behalf by Boniface Abubakar Sadik, Deputy Minister- designate at the launch of the 12th national awards for export achievement for the year 2000 in non-traditional exports.
The award was instituted by the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) to encourage non-traditional exporters.
Dr Apraku said the award scheme has gained momentum but "we are launching this year's awards programme against the background of reduced earnings in the non-traditional export sector." Provisional estimates indicate a decline in earnings from 404 million dollars in 1999 to 400 million dollars in 2000.
"This poses a great challenge to both government and the exporting community and the private sector as a whole to work hard and turn the sector around," he said. Dr Apraku said the modest achievements of the non-traditional sector initially gave the nation the hope of closing the gap between the traditional and non-traditional export sectors and to help arrest the decline in the prices of cocoa and gold.
Unfortunately, the current performance of the non-traditional sector leaves much to be desired," he stated. He said it is to address this problem that government has furthermore, indicated in this year's budget that it will provide attractive incentive packages to encourage the processing of gold and cocoa into finished products.
Government has now instituted the export development and investment fund to provide the needed financial resources for the development and promotion of Ghanaian exports.
Monies from the fund would be used for the provision of special financial schemes through which credit facilities may be offered. It would also be used to address supply-side constraints including research, infrastructure, capacity building and other entrepreneurial activities in relation to export trade.
The Minister said government intends to pursue enhanced trade relations with the United States within the context of the African Growth and Opportunities Act and the Trade and Investment Framework as part of efforts to encourage non-traditional exporters. "We will also intensify efforts to derive more trade benefits through active participation in the activities of the multilateral trade organizations, especially, the World Trade Organization and the Economic Community of West African States."
