The Ghana trade fare and exhibition currently at the National Stadium presidential lounge have seen products and services of that West African state on display.
Declaring the programme open, the deputy trade minister Mabinty Daramy said it was very important for sister African countries to facilitate the integration of goods and services.
She maintained that the objective of ECOWAS trade fare was the integration of people to facilitate the free movement of people and goods and services in borderless West Africa.
This trade fare, she went on “is a manifestation of technical and other forms of cooperation between and among developing countries.”
She went on to explain that, “there is no better way to display new ideas and stimulate peoples in terms of business than a trade fare. This trade fare will also expose us to ideas, goods and services that would enable us to translate our business efforts into profits and henceforth improve the lives of our citizens.”
According to the deputy minister, “this trade fare also exposes us to goods and services from Ghana and familiarizes ourselves with our different culture and tradition.”
The deputy minister further urged members of ECOWAS that they should stop waiting for government jobs, adding that those who had already taken the initiative into business venture “should pull their resources together and employ more people.”
Ms Daramy echoed that the government was anxious to attract private sector investors as President Koroma had said he was going to run the country like a business and so they were encouraging people in the business sector.
Referring to President Koroma’s call for Sierra Leoneans to change their attitudes, the deputy minister said, “now is the time to change our attitude towards business. I therefore call on all to make the occasion successful as the show is not only for Ghana but for Sierra Leoneans”.
The Ghanaian High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Dr Mokowa Blay Adu-Gyamfi, disclosed that exhibiting goods made in Ghana started since 2004.
Dr Adu-Gyamfi stressed that, “private sector is developing and it serves as the engine of growth in every country. This exhibition is also a sign of Africa achieving a self reliance goal.”
The chairman for the occasion, who is the deputy minister of information and communications, Mohamed D. Koroma, said the initiative provided unique opportunities to consolidate the bilateral relationship between Ghana and Sierra Leone.
The deputy minister maintained that, “this government is zealous to provide the priority to private sector as this sector provides immediate result in every country.”
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