Koforidua, Jan. 13, GNA - Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Eastern Regional Minister, has commended media personnel in the region for working hard to market the area.

He said that the RCC had acquired a vehicle for the regional press corps to facilitate the work of journalists.

Mr Ofusu Ampofo was speaking at a press soiree, organized by the RCC for media personnel in the region in Koforidua. He said that the RCC would organize "meet the press" series for District Chief Executives and Heads of Departments to educate the public on their activities.

He said the RCC would in collaboration with district assemblies develop tourist attractions in the region to create employment and generate funds for the assemblies.

Mr Ofosu Ampofo said block farming, Youth in Agriculture Programme, aqua culture and fish farming in communities along the Volta River would also be undertaken to create employment for the youth in the region. Mr Ahmed Baba-Jamal, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, called on media personnel to work hard to raise the standards of journalism in the country. He said government would welcome fair criticism and said there would be better co-operation between the RCC and the media.

Mr Baba-Jamal appealed to the media to help showcase the enormous potentials of the region so that investors could invest there. The Eastern Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Edmund Quaynor, called for improvement in the conditions of service for media practitioners in the country.

He explained that the current situation where some media personnel were being paid "slave wages" with some of them not getting any form of salary from their media houses not to talk of pension for them on retirement exposes such media practitioners to influence by event organizers. Mr Emmanuel Sarfo, a veteran journalist, asked journalists to carry out their work responsibly devoid of political consideration.