Koforidua, June 9, GNA - A law should be passed to compel companies to contribute a percentage of their profits to develop the communities where they are operating to help to reduce tension between them. The Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Dr Oti Boateng explained that when the amount to be invested into the community were backed by law, it would enjoin all companies to contribute towards the development of the areas where there are working.

He was speaking at an investment promotion seminar organized by the Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB) at Koforidua under the theme: "Local Investment - Our Bedrock".

The aim of the seminar was to explain to target groups in the Eastern Region how they could exploit the benefits of the Free Zones Programmes - Free Zone Enterprises (FZEs) and suppliers of goods and services to existing FZEs. Daasebre Oti Boateng appealed to communities that had problems with companies working in their areas to use peaceful means to resolve such problems.

He said the chiefs of New Juaben Traditional Area were ready to provide land to any company that expressed interest in establishing a company in the Municipality to create employment for the youth and to contribute towards the economic development of the country. The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Ms Susana Mensah called on the FZEs located in the Region to comply with all the regulations required of them because the Region needed their investment to develop. She called on the businesses in the Region to take advantage of the goodwill of the country to venture into manufacturing for export or offering services to the free zone companies. Ms Mensah called on investors to invest in the Region because it was strategically close to Accra with easy road accesses to the Tema Port and Kotoka International Airport in Accra.

Ms Rachel Amable, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB), said the FZEs could be established either within the free zone enclave or outside the enclave. She explained that, FZEs established outside the free zone enclave benefited from all the advantages of those companies in the enclave provided the enterprise concerned exported more than 70 per cent of its products.

Ms Amable said there were nine of such companies located at different places in the Eastern Region. Mrs Patience Acorlor, Marketing and Promotion Manager of GFZB, said communities where FZEs were established could benefit by producing non-traditional export products to supply to the companies. 9 June 07