Ghanaian entrepreneurs have been advised to expand their activities to enable them to take opportunities that the international market offers.

Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Parliament said on Thursday that they could do this by exploring the potential trade benefits that abound in the West Africa sub-region.

Mr Ala Adjetey was opening the Eighth International Trade Fair on the theme: "Achieving Economic Growth Through Positive Partnership Between the Public and Private Sector: The Way Forward."

About 700 local and 56 foreign exhibitors are participating in the 12-day fair. Mr Ala Adjetey stressed the importance of building regional blocks, saying that the country could not afford to isolate itself from the global trends of the free market in which market forces operated on the basis of prices and quality of products.

The Government, he reiterated, would do all it could to reform the public sector to meet the needs of the private sector and assist them to create job opportunities. Mr Ala Adjetey lauded the important role trade fairs played in the upliftment of a country's economic and technological potentials as well as providing opportunities for the creation of regional blocks and trade relations.

Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, the Minister of Trade and Industry, said the ECOWAS market with a population of 250 million people should give ample impetus for entrepreneurs to expand their trade activities.

However, he said, it was important for entrepreneurs to meet the high quality standards that ruled in the global market and be efficient to penetrate the market. Dr Apraku also called for the lifting of artificial barriers to trade in the ECOWAS sub-region, adding that the fair was a means to find ways to remove the trade obstacles.

Ms Esther Ofori, Chief Executive of the Ghana Trade Fair Company, said the company was now organising specialised exhibition to expose the economic potential of all other sectors and also to ensure that the centre was fully utilised.

She said there were plans to turn the fair grounds into a multi-purpose centre with other facilities since exhibition alone could not help sustain the centre. Ms Ofori said adequate security had been provided to ensure safety of exhibitors' items.