Govt to change the country's mining policy - Kufuor

Accra, May 22, GNA - The Government is to change the country's mining policy to enhance more Ghanaian participation in the stocks of the sector, President John Agyekum Kufuor, announced in Accra on Tuesday.

Additionally the policy change, would create the platform for rapid industrialisation of the sector for optimal value addition. "Towards this end, the government is revisiting the vision of an integrated aluminium industry based on mining and refining the country's own bauxite," he said in a speech at the opening of the Ghana Investment Forum at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel.

"Ghana: The Golden Gateway to Africa" is the theme of the three-day Forum, which is being organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) as part of the country's Golden Jubilee Celebrations. It is aimed at showcasing Ghana's resourcefulness, ingenuity and industry with a view to attracting investment into critical sectors of the economy including agriculture, banking and finance, information, communication technology, tourism, mining and minerals processing. President Kufuor challenged Ghanaian companies to get listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange, which is internationally acknowledged. The Forum, he said, should explore ways of empowering more Ghanaians as individuals or in partnership with others to buy into the Stock Exchange as equity holders.

This way, the full potential of the Stock Exchange would be realised.

President Kufuor lauded the idea of the formation of a Ghana-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and said this was long overdue. He, however, recommended that this should be expanded to incorporate Togo and Benin so that the four countries would become the economic heartland for co-operation and development of the ECOWAS sub-region.

He noted that in many respects, this heartland was already being opened up through a network of energy connectivity, trade, transportation and large-scale human mobility.

"This should be an impetus for ECOWAS Protocol on free movement of peoples and goods to develop. The market thereby created should form the basis for a Forum such as we are holding now."

President Kufuor said business plans and studies must therefore be based on such an ever-widening market.

Odeneho Gyapong Ababio, President of the National House of Chiefs, who presided over the opening session, said Ghana was a shining example of political and economic stability. 22 May 07