Ashanti Region to harness regions resources for development

Kumasi, July 16, GNA - Mr Kofi Opoku-Manu, Ashanti Regional Minister, on Thursday said the region's abundant natural and human resources would be harnessed to step-up developmental efforts.

He said the central location of the region made it a nerve centre for commercial business activities and that its temperature, geology and soils were ideal to support industrial or agricultural ventures. Mr Opoku-Manu was speaking at the opening of a two-day round table conference on the theme: "Promoting the Investment Potentials: Improving the Business Environment" in Kumasi.

The conference is being jointly organised by the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) in collaboration with the German Technical Corporation (GTZ), National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI) and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI). It was designed to create an opportunity for effective public-private dialogue to facilitate participatory and integrated economic development. Participants include industrialists, assembly members, chiefs, bankers and investors. He said the pace of economic progress and development of the region would largely be depended on the quantum of investments made in various sectors of especially in the exploitation of its natural and human resources.

Mr Opoku-Manu said that imposed a greater responsibility on the District Assemblies with more natural resource endowments and better comparative advantage to re-double their developmental efforts. The Regional Minister, therefore, urged the private sector and other NGOs to be committed to development in a more meaningful way. Dr Nii Moi Thompson of the International Labour Organization (ILO) said it was important that development programmes and projects were not overly concentrated in Accra alone. He said adequate financing was the engine of growth of every investment and therefore advised the participants to deliberate more on how to make access to credit readily available to businesses. Nana Afia Darkwa-Amanor, in-charge of Programmes for Sustainable Economic Development, Local and Regional Economic Development, said the GTZ had supported six districts in Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo and Northern regions to create a data base. Daasebre Osei Bonsu II, Mamponghene, who chaired the opening ceremony, also indicated that lack of funds was a major factor affecting businesses.