Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, outgoing Minister of Trade and Industry, on Monday cut the sod for work to begin on the construction of a 1.5 billion-cedi Craft Village in Aburi to enhance the work of carvers there.

The craft village to be constructed at the "Aburi Y Junction" would provide opportunity for local small-scale craft makers to market their products and give the youth the training and skills relevant to their production. It would also enable the carvers to undergo the necessary transformation of business culture that would enable them to apply their entrepreneurship skills in a competitive market to earn a better living.

Dr Aparku said it was the objective of the government to change Ghana from her status as a raw material producer to an industrialised state within the next 15 years, hence the Ministry's support for an expansion in trade and industrial activities especially for rural industrial and commercial enterprises.

He said over the last two years Ghana received 26 million dollars from export of handicrafts while 5,000 craft producers in 2001 and 5,300 in 2002 gained employment. "In addition to this, tourists, who visit the country each year, make direct purchases of handicrafts from producers to take home as gifts or souvenirs," Dr Apraku said, adding that these purchases were worth thousands of dollars leading to improved living standards in the communities.

He said the Craft Village would among other things identify viable products and their markets, organise the local producers, advise on product development and organise linkages between producers and buyers.

Dr Apraku, who before the ceremony called on the Chief of Aburi and Akwapim Anafo, Otoobour Djan Kwasi II, promised the Ministry's assistance in providing a pineapple processing plant for Aburi through the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF).

He said 113 billion cedis has been disbursed from the EDIF for food processing, including orange and salt, adding that through the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) producers in Ghana could market their products without paying the 25 per cent tax levied on products from countries that were not part of AGOA.

Dr. Apraku urged the people to keep the community neat and maintain the building when completed to make Aburi a major tourist centre.