Government will add value to products - Minister

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Trade and Industries has reiterated government intention to add value to raw material produced in Ghana.

He said government was therefore creating the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive, and called on investors to take the opportunity to come and invest in Ghana.

Mr. Iddrisu was speaking at the launch of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Ghana Economic Forum held in Accra.

He said government was working to ensure that the forum became a permanent one for the public and private sectors to discuss issues to transform the economy.

The Trade Minister said Ghana was on track in expanding trade and announced that government supported the recent directive of the Bank of Ghana to address the 'dollarization' of the cedi.

The government, he said, was looking into the regulations of the Customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority concerning the clearance of goods at Ghanas ports to create a level playing field for the private sector.

Alhaji Dr. Asuma Banda, Chairman of the ICC who shared his experience as an investor in the maritime, aviation and land transport businesses, called for the evolution of a dependable, well trained and dynamic middle class for the transformation of business ethics, conduct and purposefulness.

He said Ghana needed a dynamic middle class to create a stable, resilient and prosperous economy; hence there should be a conscious effort to grow the middle class in Ghana.

Dr. Banda said the ICC continued to develop global business policy views on key issues that affected companies' ability to trade and invest across borders and meet the challenges and opportunities of an integrated global economy.

These issues, he said, include banking, commercial law and practice, competition policy, corporate responsibility and anti-corruption, marketing and advertising, the digital economy, environment and energy, intellectual property, taxation, trade and investment policy customs and trade regulations, transport and logistics.

The ICC Chairman said more than 2,000 experts drawn from member companies around the world fed their knowledge, research findings and expertise into the crafting of ICC policy.

Dr. Banda said because national economies were now closely interwoven, government decisions now had stronger international repercussions than ever before.

He said economic growth provided the foundation for societies to develop and prosper and for people to meet their needs and pursue their aspiration and that depended on innovative, successful and responsible business operating within strong, forward looking governance and policy frameworks.

He noted that these notwithstanding, the world was faced with new challenges in different dimensions, "not only the task of achieving growth, but also new pressures on the environment through activities such as illegal mining, as well as global population increase adding considerable complexities to the system".