Baatsona (Greater Accra), 30 Nov.'98 - Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, vice-president over the weekend cut the tape to open the Tema Exhibition and Industrial Fair (texpo '98) which has been sited on a 26-acre land at Baatsona where about 300 exhibitors are taking part in the fair.
The fair which is under the theme "Tema, the industrial hub of Ghana, rebuilds, supporting vision 2020" will end by December 7.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prof Mills urged local authorities to act as agents of change within a participatory and democratic environment to create an enabling environment within which all sections of society can contribute to sustain and accelerate the rate of social and economic development.
He said local authorities are enjoined to initiate development projects that would meet the goals, objectives and priorities of the people and explained that the new local government system aims to translate the concept of "government of the people by the people and for the people" into concrete terms.
This is because the people at the grassroots now have a greater say in the type of development projects they want for their localities, as well as practical involvement in planning, implementing and monitoring such projects, the vice president added.
Prof Mills noted that before the erstwhile PNDC took the bold decision to liberalise the country's economy and also divest some state- owned enterprises (SOEs), industrial and economic activities had crawled almost to a halt.
He pointed out that to add impetus to Ghana's development efforts, government has for sometime now, been striving to improve and maintain fiscal, legal and administrative system in a form which will promote private investment initiative, adding, "it is our aim to establish Ghana as an attractive venue for private investment, both local and foreign."
Prof Mills said one of the offshoots of this policy is the creation of the export processing zones (EPZs), where companies which will operate within these free zones are allowed to export 70 per cent of their finished products and sell the remaining 30 per cent in the local market.
He gave the assurance that formalities for the creation of EPZs have been completed and many enterprises are already in production and work is about to start to provide the infrastructure and factory buildings for a special enclave in the Tema Municipality.
The vice president disclosed that the terms governing investment and EPZs have been made very liberal for the mutual benefit of all partners involved, adding that beside generating foreign exchange for the nation, the establishment of additional industries will also create more jobs for the youth.
Prof Mills noted that one of the disincentives to private investors, especially foreign entrepreneurs, is the cumbersome process they have to go through to obtain facts about investment potentials in the country, and said there is the need to eliminate the bureaucratic bottleneck in "our systems so that the requisite information would be readily available".
He said he was hopeful that the Tema International Trade Centre (TITC) at Baatsona will be in a unique position to partly fulfil this need, adding. "I expect that all would be done to turn the centre into a microcosm of industrial and business establishments in the Greater Accra region so that entrepreneurs can easily have access to all the information they require at a centralised location to enable them to make informed business decisions.
On local fairs being held throughout the country, the vice- president said, to catapult Ghana into the middle income bracket by the year 2020, "we must identify and harness our resources and economic potentials into useful productive ventures."
Dr John Abu, Minister of Trade and Industry said as a nation, "we have to pat ourselves on the back that our trade policy reforms supported by good trade and investment promotions have generated good international interest and confidence in Ghana as an excellent investment destination.
However, he said, the records are quite clear that the rate of growth of investments outside Greater Accra are too slow, adding Greater Accra recorded 77.41 per cent out of a total of 735 investments over the past four years.
The share of the remaining nine regions is only 22.59 per cent of the total investment over that period.
Dr Abu said there is the need for every district in every region to expose its facilities and potentials to investors, that is why the regions and the districts should see themselves as the action grounds for more activities to woo investors.
Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development described TEXPO '98 as a district level epoch making initiative, and stressed that it is a ground breaking local government investment initiative.
He said TMA has shown the way forward through projects to provide facilities for better sign posting system so that investors, entrepreneurs, NGOs and the public can quickly and cheaply find and obtain information on what services and opportunities are available in the municipality.
The minister said the trade centre concept will no doubt promote closer co-ordination between industrial and commercial establishments and development partners in Accra-Tema for different investment support initiatives, particularly from the perspective of industry and commerce and the end user public.
