Trade Minister and AGI agree to quarterly meetings

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Haruna Iddrisu has called for a quarterly meeting between the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and government to ensure that constraints facing industries were brought to the fore and speedily addressed.

Speaking at a meeting with some executives of the AGI, the Minister assured that government would work with the business leaders to know the challenges and to provide the necessary remedy for the economic development of the country.

Mr Iddrisu said a key issue he would be working on was how to expand the Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund to include equity and loans to support the manufacturing sector.

He therefore called on the AGI to provide a concept paper on how to move the process forward,

Nana Owusu-Afari, President of the AGI, said major constraints facing industry include unfair competition from cheap imports, lack of access to finance and the unpredictable power supply.

He said no country could develop on the back of imports, adding that the challenges called for a structured regular intervention and welcomed the quarterly meetings to address the concerns.