Support government efforts in national deverlopment – Deputy Trade Minister

The deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr. Stephen Amoah, has urged citizens to support government to make the country a better place.

Speaking at a Blue Economy Conference in Accra themed ‘The role of government to the economic impact of the maritime industry as it relates with trade, employment, human resources and industrialisation’, he said every Ghanaian, whether in public service or the private sector, has a role to play.

“One problem in our country is that we always look at government and not ourselves. Until we renew our minds, nothing will work in this country. I think as a country, as much as we call on government to improve its performance in very important area of our economy – which I totally agree with, we should also look at ourselves,” he explained.

Speaking at the conference, he also urged students of the Regional Maritime University (RMU) who were present at the event to take charge of their future and be good managers of the little space given them, in order to be responsible people tomorrow.

Director of Tema Port, Sandra Opoku – in a speech read on her behalf, indicated that the global maritime industry has been growing at an impressive rate and is the leading source of employment in many countries, especially those with many ports and a very lengthy coastline.

She noted that the Ghana Ports Authority (GPA) has invested millions of dollars in upgrading ports’ infrastructure and introduced ICT innovations to increase ports’ effectiveness and competitiveness.

Ms. Opoku reiterated the significance of academia and industry collaboration, saying: “It provides students with real world problem-solving experiences; deepens their learning, engages them through projects-based learning, and enables companies to stay ahead of the emerging trends and advancements”.

She therefore concluded that: “Bridging the gap between academia and industry is essential to promote the exchange of ideas”.

For his part, the Student Representative Council (SRC) president of RMU, Alex Kojo Abayateye, stressed that as the world is going toward the blue economy trade and industry, the institution has potential to solve the ocean problems and revive economies – then create sustainable jobs.

According to him, management and staff of the university are putting in measures to harness the opportunities at hand and projecting that there will be job vacancies for more students, looking at the number of shipping lines which are approaching the university.

He commended the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) for their immense support in offering students internship opportunities, national service employment as well as a venue for organising their events. Additionally, he called on government to support the institution with financial assistance.