Business-Blog

Minister for Trade, Industry and Agric Business Assumes Office.

The Minister for Trade, Industry and Agric Business, Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare has met with the Management of the Ministry after her assumption on duty on Monday, January 24th, 2024. The meeting among other things was for the minister to interact with the management of the ministry to afford her greater insights into the challenges, opportunities, and potentials in the sector.
In his welcome address, the Chief Director, Mr. Patrick Yaw Nimo, took the Minister through the Ministry’s organogram, the various institutions under the Ministry, the Fixed Assets of the Ministry, the policies under implementation under the various units and the missions abroad. The Chief Director informed the Minister of the mandate of the Ministry saying, the Ministry is the lead policy advisor to government on trade, industrial and private sector development with the responsibility of formulating and implementing of policies for the promotion, growth and development of domestic and international trade and industry.
He said, the Ministry is also the advocate for the private sector within the government and is the principal agency responsible for monitoring and implementing the Government’s private sector development programs and activities on communication. He added that the Ministry also ensures that Ghana derives maximum benefit from international trade relations and that domestic trade is conducted in a smooth and orderly manner.
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the Ministry to strengthen trade relations with all friendly countries on a most favored nation basis consistent with Ghana’s membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Special attention continues to be focused on the diversification of markets and the commodity export base by promoting the development of non-traditional exports industries with the view to developing an export-led economy. The Chief Director assured the Minister of maximum support from all staff to work harder in achieving the desired results.
In her response, the Hon. Minister expressed her appreciation to the Chief Director and Management for the detailed information provided to her concerning the ministry, adding that, the policies and programs of the ministry must work to benefit Ghanaians at large.
According to the Minister, one of her topmost priorities as a minister was to reduce imports to the barest minimum and increase exports. She intends to achieve this by engaging with various stakeholders to implement policies that would maximize growth in the industry. She added that, there would be an engagement with the Ministry of Agriculture in terms of the Agric Business to be able to tap into the opportunities in the Agric industry to achieve the desired result. She promised to work with the vision and mission of the ministry and urged management for maximum support towards significant growth in the industry.