Tema, (Greater Accra) 25 Jan. '99,

The government is to establish an Export Development and Investment Fund, to provide credit guarantees to enterprises, Mr Kwasi Wiafe Pepera, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, disclosed at Tema on Friday. Closing a month-long workshop for the Tema branch of the Ghana Association of Women Entrepreneurs (GAWE), he said a bill to that effect is currently before Parliament for consideration.

The workshop was under the supervision of the Netherlands Management Co-operation Programme with Mrs Henke Westra, as the resource person. He said his ministry, with the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), has established industrial clusters to improve interaction between government and industry.

The clusters are to identify common industrial problems for solution. So far, four clusters in the food/fish, textiles/garments, wood processing and packaging sectors are in operation in the Greater Accra Region. He called on entrepreneurs and industries to take advantage of the programme to increase their output . Mrs Esther Agbodo Nyamalor, president of the Tema branch of GAWE, identified credit as the main problem facing women entrepreneurs.