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Produce high quality made-in-Ghana
goods - Ambassador
Ouagadougou, July 27, Ghanadot/GNA - Mr. Mogtari Sahanun,
Ghana's Ambassador to Burkina Faso, on Friday called on
Ghanaian industrialists and farmers to produce high quality
goods that would not only meet local market demand but also
be good enough to compete favourably with produce from other
parts of the world.
"It is the only way we can encourage the consumption of
locally manufactured products and thereby improve private
sector development and create jobs for the people", he said.
Mr. Sahanun said this when he opened a one-week exhibition
of Made-in- Ghana goods in as part of activities to mark the
50th anniversary of Ghana's independence in Burkina Faso.
The exhibition was organised by the Ghana Embassy in
Ouagadougou, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI),
Ministry of Trade, Industry, PSD and PSI, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and NEPAD and the
Ghana Export Promotion Council.
Products exhibited included, aluminium products, textiles,
building materials, pharmaceuticals, plastic products, cocoa
beverages, hair products and machinery made by the GRATIS
Foundation.
Mr. Sahanun called on the governments of Ghana and Burkina
Faso to empower their local industries and strengthen them
to compete effectively not just to survive but come out as a
significant part of the global business world.
"It is for this reason that I personally see the development
of trade promotion between our countries as critical in
order to strengthen our position in the global arena", he
said.
Mr. Sahanun said one of the problems facing the business
community was the difficulty involved in travelling from one
country to the other due to cumbersome border procedures and
numerous roadblocks and this added to the cost of doing
business across borders.
Mr. Jean Claude Bikaba, Secretary-General of the Burkina
Faso Ministry of Trade and Industry, lauded the smooth trade
relations between Ghana and his country and said the removal
of transport and border impediments would help enhance the
economic relations between the two countries.
He said Ghana and Burkina Faso shared a lot in trade,
health, socio-cultural practices and agriculture that was
beneficial to both countries and should be encouraged to
improve and continue.
Mr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi, President of the Association of Ghana
Industries, expressed concern that trade among West African
countries was very low as compared to the overall
sub-regional trading with Europe and other countries.
He said Ghana's trade within West Africa came up to 11 per
cent of its total international trade and the same applied
to most countries of the sub-region.
Mr Oteng-Gyasi said AGI had resolved to be more pro-active
to challenge and encourage Ghana's industries as well as
industries of neighbouring countries to take advantage of
the sub regional market.
He said the exhibition aimed at further strengthening trade
relations between Ghana and Burkina Faso and that the ECOWAS
Trade Liberalisation Scheme was already a success between
the two countries.
GNA.
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