CEDECOM takes shape -As Region hosts investm
The Central Region Development Commission (CEDECOM), which is the main catalyst for investment promotion and attraction in the Central Region, has started taking shape, following the inauguration of its newly-constituted Board last week.
The commission has therefore swung into action, with the organisation of its Fourth Investment Forum, aimed at positioning the region for business to thrive to improve on the economy here.
It was on the theme, “Making Central Region, a preferred Investment Destination: Prospects and Challenges.”
The forum was attended by investors and people in the business club, as well as prospective investors.
Speaking at the opening in Cape Coast on Friday, the Central Regional Minister, Mrs. Ama Benyiwa Doe, said similar fora had been used to promote growth in economies outside Ghana, and was hopeful that the private sector in the region would be strengthened to lead the wealth-creation drive.
She said the forum had come at a time the government was working vigorously to attract investments into the region, and added that Central Region had comparative advantage in tourism and other raw materials such as cocoa, fish, oil palm, quarrying and mining among others.
She expressed her wish to have a harbour and an airport in the region, to facilitate investments to improve the well-being of the people.
Mrs. Benyiwa Doe gave the assurance that the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) would support various investors by creating a conducive atmosphere for them to operate.
She said President John Evans Atta Mills takes CEDECOM very serious, and that was why he mentioned it in the NDC 2008 manifesto with the Savannah Accelerated Development programme, and called on business men and women to use CEDECOM's technical expertise to expand their business and invest in other areas.
Mr. Spencer Taylor, Acting Executive Director of CEDECOM, observed that well-developed economies thrived on the success of the private sector, explaining that CEDECOM wanted to expose the investment opportunities in the region to the outside world.
He expressed the hope that the forum will lead to job creation, and enhanced incomes, to help improve the standard of living in the Central Region.
Nana Sam Brew Butler, a member of the CEDECOM Board, said the Central Region contributed about 80-90 percent of human resources in Ghana, because almost all the top civil servants, either came from Central Region, or had their education in Cape Coast.
He therefore called on the people to harness the human resource base, to transform the region into an economically viable one.
Topics treated at the forum were, “Investment Opportunities in the Central Region, Financing Options Available to Private Sector Operators, Technical Assistance Programme Available to Private Sector Operators, and Investment Guarantees and Incentive Packages.”