Kumasi, Oct. 26, GNA - Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, a presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) says he will develop a new economic paradigm shift for the nation, if he wins power. He said Ghana must take advantage of its central location, as well as its economic and political stability and quality human resource to position itself as the leading service provider in the West Africa sub-region.

He made these remarks when launching his campaign in Kumasi on Friday.

Mr Osafo Maafo said Ghana needed to think "outside the box" and take opportunity of competitive economic advantages and potentials to expand the economy and provide jobs for the people. He said the country's leading primary and agricultural products such as cocoa and gold, which used to be the leading provider of foreign exchange, had now become uncompetitive and it was important to initiate fresh thinking to diversify and increase the foreign exchange portfolio. For example, he said, salt had a huge foreign exchange potential, which the country could exploit and export to neighbouring West African countries.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said with the current economic stability, which had resulted in high foreign investor interest, especially in the banking and insurance sectors, he would work to further transform the sector and place the country as a leading financial hub in the sub region. The aspirant, who is a former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said he would use his high negotiation skills and good rapport with the international donor and creditor community to access the needed foreign financial support to speed up Ghana's development process. He touted his achievements while serving in the Kufuor government and said the successes had encouraged him to aspire for the presidency in order to continue the transformation process.

"Ghana's development process has been too slow, there is need for us to get a leader who could build on the good foundation laid by President Kufuor to speed up the nation's development". He said the 2008 elections were the finals between the NDC and NPP and appealed to the delegates to choose a candidate who the floating voters would see as efficient enough.