Trade Minister Visits EU Sponsored Plantations

Mr Carlos Ahenkorah, a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry has reiterated Government’s commitment to reposition businesses to its rightful positions to promote economic growth.

This, he said, would be done through creating an enabling environment for businesses in all sectors to thrive in order to create jobs and promote development.

Mr Ahenkorah said this when he visited the European Union funded Banana Assistance Measures (BAM) plantation handled by Golden Exotic Limited at Kusanya in the Shai Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region.

The EU funding is being provided in the framework of the Banana Assistance Measures (BAM), which provides financial assistance to facilitate trade between banana-producing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Ghana is one of the eleven countries receiving financial assistance for the banana trade.

The visit was to ascertain at first-hand information on the plantation and for the minister to familiarise himself with their operations.

He assured the Managers of the plantation of Government’s commitment to support and correct some anomalies faced by the company by the first quarter of next year.

Mr Ahenkorah who is also the Member of Parliament for Tema West in the Greater Accra Region said the promises made by the New Patriotic Party, under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will all be fulfilled and that some of the promises such as the Free Senior High School, National Health Insurance and the Planting for Food and Jobs had already taken off.

He said Government would support new and existing companies such as Golden Exotic to improve and expand on what they have been doing in order to create more jobs for the citizenry.

The Deputy Minister said the Government of President Akufo-Addo would not want any Ghanaian to lose his or her job, but will rather encourage companies and firms to increase productivity in order to create more jobs.

He advice the staff of the company to be fully committed to their duties, and encouraged them to show example by shining at where ever they have been positioned to work.

Mr Olivier CHASSANG, Managing Director of the Company, said the ten-kilometer-wide plantation have a staff population of 2,500.

He said the company has a turnover of 40 million Euros and its total export of 90 and 20 per cent of the plantation Banana and Pineapple was sent to Europe.

The Company founded in 1939 and incorporated in Ghana in 2003 as a Free Zone registered company and it is one of the leading companies in Accra with branches in most of the African countries.

Source: GNA