IRELAND’S TRADE AND COMMERCE MINISTER MEETS AGPI
The Association of Ghanaian Professions in Ireland (AGPI) on Wednesday, 18 June, paid a courtesy call on Mr John McGuiness, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, with Special responsibility for Trade and Commerce. The meeting which took place in the Minister’s Office was at the request of the AGPI as a forum to formally inform the minister of the formation of the association in the Republic and to brief him on the aims and objectives of the association.
In welcoming the AGPI delegation to his Office, Minister McGuiness expressed his delight in hearing that a body of professionals from Ghana who have realised the Irish dream have come together for good causes. He was optimistic that the Association would grow from leaps for the benefit of the entire Ghanaian community in the country and the Irish Society at large.
Presenting the AGPI delegation to the Minister, Dr Vincent Agyapong, Chairman of the Association, thanked the Minister on behalf of the Executive of the AGPI and the entire Ghanaian community for accepting our request for this meeting. He assured the minister that Ghanaians are by nature hardworking and law abiding. He said the AGPI requested for the visit to enable the Association and his ministry work together in finding common ground in tackling some of the employment and social problems facing the minority in the Republic. He told the minister that the visit was two-fold:
It was a form of mechanism of achieving rapid integration of the Ghanaian community in the Irish society. He expanded this by saying that many of our peoples are highly skilled and are occupying various positions in the country. He said as professionals in various fields of endeavour we are committed to making a positive contribution towards the growth of the Irish economy. At the same time, he said there are those with the skills to be placed in employment but are finding it extremely difficult to break into the Irish job market. He said our visit was to work with the minister on the best way forward.
Touching on the second reason for the AGPI visit, Dr Agyapong told the minister that the top most priority of AGPI is the Mobilisation of Material Resources for the development of Ghana. He told the minister that Ghana has set 2015 as the year the country envisages achieving a middle income status and in order for this to be attained, it behoves on all Ghanaians no matter where they were to play a part. Thus, our meeting with his ministry was meant to find common areas we could work together in that direction. He believed the Ministry of Trade and Commerce could play a pivotal role in this resource mobilisation. He stressed on the importance of expanding trade between the two nations.
In his response, the minister reiterated his ministry’s determination to expand the bi-lateral relation between the two countries. He said the timing of the formation of AGPI was commendable because it was coming just as Tullow , an Irish based Company has discovered Oil in Ghana, which to him would make mobilisation of material resources for the development of Ghana possible. He said at the moment trade between Ghana and Republic of Ireland stands at a meagre €26m which was not something the two nations should be proud of. According to him, as the Minister of State with responsibility for Trade and Commerce, his office has started putting measures in place that would improve trade between the two nations. He encouraged the association to use its professional status to reach out to big businesses in the country, especially, Enterprise Ireland which according to him is the regulator of investments abroad. He stressed on the importance of AGPI identifying projects that would be of mutual benefit between the two nations so that both nations could work out the feasibility and modalities of entering into co-operation agreements to see to their implementation.
He said just as in the 1970’s many Irish immigrated to the United States and the UK, so is our coming to the shores of this Island so we should make maximum use of our stay here by encouraging our fellow Ghanaians to embrace the quality education on offer by the country . He said by so doing, we would not only enhance our marketability in the job market but would also benefit the host nation, because we would be occupying vacant job positions in the country.
Touching on the question of unemployment facing many skilled Ghanaians in the country, the minister suggested that his brief is trade and commerce but his colleagues who are in the same ministry would be eager to assist wherever there was the need for them to do so, he would therefore suggest we approach them directly with any of our problems.
The Minister afforded the delegation further opportunity of questions and answers session and it was at this juncture, the Vice Chairman of AGPI, Dr Wilberforce Owusu-Ansah told the minister that recently there was government funded programme, “Emerge” which was tailored to meet the needs of the minority in the country. According to him, the programme of which he was a facilitator was of immense help to the minority but sadly for the participants, it run out of funding and had to stop.
In answer to that question, the minister said, Funding for such schemes are determined by demand and where it is not feasible to carry such schemes out, there are other agencies that are more than willing to step in. He promised Dr Owusu- Ansah that he would provide him with the requisite agencies later.
Dr Owusu – Ansah wanted to know, how the Minister’s department would improve the flow of information on Trade to interested parties such as the AGPI. The Minister answered by saying that, all Trade matters in Ireland is handled by Enterprise Ireland and he suggested that AGPI worked with Enterprise Ireland to find new ways of marketing our Country to Irish businesses. He was of the opinion that Ghana stood a better chance in achieving her developmental goals if we could embrace the quality education on offer by Ireland. In this area too Dr Owusu-Ansah informed the Minister that he was looking for an Irish institution to provide accreditation and technical support for a polytechnic in Ghana. The minister gave some useful pointers in that direction and suggested that some tertiary institutions in Ireland could enter into technical exchange programmes with institutions in Ghana.
Other issues discussed with the Minister included employment rights for students studying in Ireland and the so called stamp 2 visa for postgraduates as well as immigration problems confronting Ghanaians in Ireland. Mr Philip Amponsah, wanted to know from the minister why postgraduates with the so called Stamp 2 visa, who are legally afforded the opportunity to work are discriminated against by employers? According to him there had been instances where recruitment agencies had refused to employ these people. He also said some employers are not aware of the Graduate Scheme. In reply, the minister suggested we documented any form of problems in that direction and forward it to the appropriate ministry and he firmly believed they would be treated with fairness.
It was time to bring the curtain down on proceedings so Dr Vincent Agyapong once more thanked the minister for his invaluable time and effort in meeting the AGPI. He was of the opinion that AGPI would work with all the agencies the Minister had mentioned for the ultimate purpose of advancing the Ghanaian community both in Ireland and in Ghana as well.
