Stakeholders in the development of Ghana's private sector at a meeting on a national trade policy in Accra on Tuesday urged the government to be more practical in its efforts to develop the sector and protect it from unfair competition from imported goods.

They said despite much government talk on the development of the private sector, very little had been done to give meaning to its real development and asked government to involve the sector willingly, and not to wait for it to lobby before it was involved in the formulation of trade policies.

The meeting, organised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), was to crystallise discussions on a national trade debate held earlier in August this year.

Participants were from the ministries, banks, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, the textile, poultry, steel and manufacturing and services sectors, among others.

The private sector practitioners asked the government to be transparent in its pronouncements on trade policies, give a clear vision to the private sector, and also check the mass importation of products that had lower prices than locally manufactured goods.

Mr Seth Quao, General Manager in Charge of Administration, Crocodile Machetes, said the Value Added Tax (VAT) Law, as it is now, discriminates against exempt supplies.

He said exempt supplies did not charge VAT on the final products and yet manufacturers paid VAT on all inputs in the manufacturing process.

Mr Quao said the zero rating of exports rather became expensive because VAT paid in the manufacturing process were not returned to the manufacturers and manufacturers did not enjoy zero output tax on exports.

Mr Kwabena Darko, Chairman of Darko Farms, called for serious efforts from the government to increase local productivity and enhance the level of social infrastructure to improve upon the distribution of locally made products on the Ghanaian market.

He bemoaned the influx of foreign poultry products and asked why Ghana imposed only 10 per cent tariff on them while Nigeria had totally banned such imports.

Opening the meeting Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Trade and Industry said a national trade policy should be self-centred, build national competitiveness based on the country's comparative advantage and operate in a predictable environment.

He said in fashioning out a trade policy, there was the need for

developing nations to forge alliance for a greater participation in a global economy and stressed that credibility in health, safety, packaging and level of chemical residues, quality and quantity of exports should be paramount.

He regretted Ghana's huge trade deficits and asked if it was too late to introduce protective measures. He added that between 10 and 15 products had come to the attention of his Ministry for some protection interventions.

Dr Maury Bredahl, Trade Policy Advisor of Sigma One Corporation, said a national trade policy should make provision for levelling the playing field, but noted, however, that trade policies must meet stringent standards of transparency.

Dr Bredahl indicated that Ghana might not need new trade policies but it needed the identification of benchmarks to measure policy implementation and monitor policies for economic befits to flow.