Minister pleads for technical support for personnel

Accra, March 17, GNA - The Minister for Energy, Dr Joe Oteng Adjei, on Tuesday asked the government of the United States of America to help provide technical support for young graduates of the ministry on energy related issues to enable them to contribute meaningfully to the sector's development.

He said his ministry would also work with the oil companies to train residents of the communities where oil was discovered to enable them to be part of the industry and benefit from it. The Minister said this when the US Ambassador to Ghana Mr Donald Teitelbaum called on him at his office in Accra to discuss ways to strengthen partnership between the two countries in the energy sector. Dr Oteng Adjei said government's priority was to ensure that Ghanaians became wealthy through provision of quality jobs and that everything possible would be done to achieve it.

The Minister said government would also ensure that oil companies did not flood the industry with expatriates but rather gave the local people the opportunity to benefit from the sector to prevent unrests. Dr Oteng Adjei said government would work with civil society organizations in the area of environmental protection to ensure that oil companies respected the country's environmental laws. He reiterated government's commitment to ensure that all contracts with investors in the oil sector would be done in a transparent manner adding that his ministry would know not engage in door sessions when meeting investors. 17 March 09