Honourable Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry has said the private sector is the driving force for the economic take-off of Ghana.

He said the experiences of many developed countries were pointers to the need for all developing countries to adapt to changing trends in order to accelerate economic fortunes of their countries.

Honourable Affram Asiedu said it was within that context that the Government of the NPP declared the concept of the Golden Age of Business, among other things to embolden the private sector to spearhead the drive to economic prosperity and the creation of wealth for all.

He said in line with that philosophy the Government would continue to provide the enabling environment which would galvanize the private sector into action. In this connection he said, the new Trade Policy had been put in place to guide the actions of all operators in the economy and urged the private sector to seek newer and less expensive technologies to produce competitively for the local and export market.

These remarks were contained in an address he delivered at the Ghana Update Briefing for members of the West Africa Business Association (WABA) in London.

The briefing drew a cross section of business executives with links in Ghana, the West Africa Sub-region and friends of Ghana.

Present at the briefing were HE Mr. Isaac Osei, Ghana High Commissioner to the UK, and his deputy Mr A. K. Arthur, Dr John Brown and Mr Hamish McGregor Chairman and Secretary General of WABA, Mr Sunil Mohinani, a Director SARA (London), an affiliate of Poly Group of Companies in Ghana who made a representation on the firm?s experiences in Ghana.

Mr Affram Asiedu drew the attention of the gathering to the varied business opportunities in Ghana. These included investment for large scale farming and irrigation, processing of agricultural produce, provision of heavy equipment for hiring, irrigation services as well as production of fertilizers and pesticides. Other areas mentioned included packaging, aluminium products, jewellery, bauxite mining cement and hand tools, transportation, power generation, manufacture of telecom equipment, IT industry and real estate development.

To a question on the construction of the West Africa Gas Line Project, the Deputy Minister assured the gathering that the project was on course and pointed out the Government of Ghana had paid its share of the cost.