Samuel Abu Jinapor, Lands Minister, receives report from MD of Graphic, Ato Afful
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has assured civil society and the public at large that he will thoroughly study reports and recommendations submitted after the just ended two-day Natural Resources Stakeholders Dialogue, and strictly implement them.
The Minister gave this assurance when he received a communique on the Natural Resources Stakeholders Dialogue put together by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) yesterday in Accra.
In his remarks, Mr Jinapor commended the team from GCGL for bringing up such a timely programme, saying “the success of the forum rings bell from far and near”.
“Across, almost unanimously, there’s a certain consensus that the dialogue was timely; the discussions were enlightening, comprehensive, productive and, indeed, the dialogues was roundly a major success. The Lands and Natural Resources is extremely grateful for the leadership shown by all the stakeholders in building a consensus around the crucial national issue,” he indicated.
He, however, stressed the need to zero in on specific issues, and the conversation steered in a way that focuses on how Ghana and, to a large extent, Africa can harness its resources to propel its sustainable economic development in the country.
He touched on the issue of having surface mining as opposed to underground mining and the question of restricting small-scale mining to prevent environmental degradation, as a topic that can be critically examined.
He said due to the very consequential nature of the issues to be discussed, a lot more of such dialogues can be organised to deliberate on these specific issues without having to make it a nationwide campaign.
Mr Jinapor expressed the hope that the strong ties and collaboration established between the Ministry and GCGL would continue as they work together for the good of the country.
Submitting the communique, the Managing Director of GCGL, Ato Afful, said the forum was successful, stressing that “it sought to have a broad consensus in getting critical stakeholders agree on a pathway to manage Ghana’s natural resources”.
He indicated that the documents will help build a timetable to follow through the implementation of some key take-out from the dialogue.
Mr Afful assured that his outfit will make available copies of the reports to all the Ministry’s agencies to make meaningful and sustainable results as guided by the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
Ghana-China partnership
Meanwhile, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Hunan Sub-council, on a courtesy visit to Ghana, has pledged to partner Ghana in its transformational agenda by investing substantially in the manufacturing sector.
In a meeting with the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Council engaged the Ministry on avenues in which the two countries can deepen their bilateral relations and strengthen economic and trade ties for mutual benefits.
Members of the delegation were convinced that only a win-win bilateral relations with Ghana can help accelerate growth and create jobs in responsibly exiting the IMF Programme and moving on.
The leader of the delegation, Zhou Shengqiao, Deputy Inspector of the Hunan Sub-Council, made a presentation to the Minister and other officials of the Ministry, detailing areas in which they desire collaboration with Ghana.
Those key sectors Zhou Shengqiao highlighted during the presentation include mining, healthcare, industrial growth, among others.
Mr Zhou Shengqiao also outlined various means in which they can collaborate with the Ministry for the responsible and sustainable harnessing and exploitation of the country’s Natural Resources.
For his part, the Lands Minister disclosed that Ghana’s relationship with China is a great and mutually beneficial one, noting that “it has gained noteworthy recognition in areas of economic trade, mineral and mining investments, education and social development”.
The Minister also promised to pay a working visit to the council establishment as part of his Ghana’s participation in the Beijing Mining Conference slated for October this year.
“There is a strong people-to-people relationship between Ghana and China. There are a lot of Ghanaian citizens who travel to China for all kinds of businesses and there are Chinese citizens who travel to Ghana for all kinds of businesses,” he noted.
About The Author
