EXPORT DEVELOPMENT FUND TO BE SET UP

An Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) is being set up to address the problem of long term investment in industry and agriculture .

Details of the scheme are currently being worked out for implementation . The Vice President , Professor Mills, announced this when he addressed a workshop for Alliance for Africa's Industrailisation organised jointly by the government and UNIDO in Accra yesterday . The alliance has among its strategies to adopt private - public sector mechanisms for dialogue for the development of industry in Africa . He said with the rapid advancement of telecommunication , technology , which has turned the world into a giant economy , it has become necessary for Africa to reshape her industrialisation processes .

Professor Mills said with the systematic removal of restrictions on trade and movement of resources , countries can no longer undertake import sub situation ventures. Rather , he said , there is the need to identify areas of comparative technological and economic advantage for development .

He said Africa has an industrial future action on the part of private and public sectors, governments and peoples to fashion a way out for Ghana and Africa . The Vice President reiterated the government's commitment to the empowerment and development of the private sector, adding that the two could forge a new dynamic alliance to become world class performers in industry . He said as a means of enhancing the performance of the private sector in the country, a round table project supported by the World Bank and other initiatives involving the UNDP, UNIDO and the USAID has been initiated .

This, he said , is to address the problems of commercialisation and enhance entrepreneurial skills in the key supportive institutions such as the Ghana Standards Boards , the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research , the Ghana Trade Fair Authority and the National Board for Small-Scale Industries.

In this contribution, the second vice president of the Association of Ghana Industries ,Mr. Kwabena Darko regretted that the private sector has been weak and disorganised because it has not been involved in decision making on the issues affecting industrial development .

He said the government must show a genuine commitment to involving the private sector in the processes of industralisation in the country . A 39 member National Industrial Development Council (NIDC) was later set up with the Vice - President as the chairman.

Source: Graphic