The Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, marked her first working day yesterday following her swearing-in by President John Mahama, full of optimism for the growth, development and transformation of the sector.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare, who is also a former Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, indicated her resolve to make trade, agribusiness and industry the engine of growth for the national economy.

Mission

"So both my mission and vision put together is to ensure a country where our trade, our agribusiness and our industry become the engine of growth for our economy — to make sure that the industries are doing well, trade is booming, agribusiness is there to solve one of the major challenges of industry, which is raw material production in the country," Ms Ofosu-Adjare told the Daily Graphic in her office.

She said the government would work towards reducing imports and stepping up exports.

"We hope to reduce our imports and increase our exports," she said, and that all stakeholders would be brought on board to make sure that materialised.

Day

The day’s activities, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said, included meeting with her management team at the ministry and letting them know what she was expecting of them.

She said she would also share with them her expectations, among others and then be apprised of the programmes and projects of the ministry.

"They're (staff) also going to apprise me with the projects and programmes that are going on in the ministry and then I'm going to meet all the staff there.

"After meeting my management team, I will go to everybody's office to greet them and introduce myself to them and also introduce themselves to us and then after that, start work," she said.

Vibrant

Ms Ofosu-Adjare said she expected a very vibrant and hardworking staff with deliverables as well as a very happy working environment where everybody, including staff and herself, would be happy.

"The more we are happy, the more we will deliver. We are going to understand each other.

"It is not a master-servant relationship. It's going to be a round-table discussion.

We are going to respect everybody — from the security man to the chief director. Everybody is important in this space and so I'm expecting them to work hard.

I will listen to them,” she said.

Vetting

Appearing for her confirmation hearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, the minister said the implementation of the government’s 24-hour Economy policy would be a major boost to address some of the teething challenges facing the One District, One Factory (1D1F) companies.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said under the 24-hour policy, companies would receive incentives such as tax holidays and stimulus packages to spur their rapid growth.

Aside from that, she said agri-businesses would be engaged in contract farming to produce adequate raw materials to feed industries.

“So,1D1F companies that will sign on to the 24-hour Economy policy will get the benefit of tax holidays 

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare attributed the slow growth of Ghana’s industries to a lack of raw materials.

“I see the solution to these problems facing 1D1F companies in the proposed 24-hour Economy,” she said.