Ajumako (C/R), Oct. 1, GNA - Mr Kenneth K. Obempong, District Chief Executive for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam has called on investors to take advantage of the enormous tourism and agricultural potentials in the area to establish industries and other ventures in the district.

He said this would not only ensure the development of the district but also reduce poverty and unemployment and prevent the youth from migrating to the urban centres in search of non-existent jobs. Mr Obempong was speaking at a forum of stakeholders on Rural Enterprise Development at Ajumako, on Tuesday He noted that unemployment was very high among the youth while poverty kept rising leading to economic hardships.

The DCE expressed the hope that the stakeholders would fashion out plans to put the district on the road to development.

He said the district has vast potentials in tourism and agro-based industries such as palm oil and palm kernel oil extraction as well as citrus production.

Mr Obempong urged investors to take advantage of the relative peace and stability in the area to establish ventures to enable the district to contribute meaningfully to national development.

Mr Yaw Nyarko-Mensah, Chief Industrial Promotion Officer and Director of Small and Medium Enterprises Development of the Ministry of Trade, said under the Rural Enterprises Development Programme every district was to select three priority projects for implementation.

Speaking on behalf of the Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and the President's Special Initiatives, Hajia Alima Mahama, he urged districts to submit their projects to the Ministry on time.

The stakeholders comprising assembly members, heads of departments, chiefs, business executives, artisans and other opinion leaders later broke into four groups to consider priority projects.

Projects considered were soap manufacturing, carving and beads making, distillery and citrus processing.