The Fifth National Policy Summit would come off on December 9, 2018 in Takoradi of the Western Region, with focus on improving performance of state-owned enterprises.

The two-day event, which is held every quarter in a year, provides a platform to explain government policies, plans and activities to the citizenry as well as collect feedback for policy refinement.

The Summit, being hosted by the Ministry of Information, is under the distinguished patronage of Mr Yaw Osafo Marfo, the Senior Minister and would be held under the theme: “Improving Performance in State Owned Enterprises and Agencies”

It would be addressed by chief executives and heads of selected state organisations, including the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Accra Digital Centre, State Housing Corporation, Ghana Free zones Board, Microfinance and Small Scale Loans Centre, Food and Drugs Authority, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan and the Committee on Illegal Mining.

Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, a Deputy Minister of Information, said this to journalists when she officially launched the Summit at a media briefing, in Accra on Thursday.

The Summit is expected to draw participants from the academia, civil society organisations, policy makers, business leaders, industry players, captains of industries, chief executive officers of state-owned institutions, ministers of state and traditional rulers to brainstorm, interact and dialogue on topical issues of national importance and government policies and programmes as well as solicit feedback to enhance those policies.

There would be eight parallel sessions to discuss topical issues affecting the Ghanaian economy.

“The Fifth National Policy Summit like other summits organized by our Ministry are closely aligned to the Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies: An Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All,” she said.

“It is also linked with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) Goals 16 and 17 where targets relevant to the Ministry of Information focus on developing effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels, ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision making at all levels, ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements, encourage and promote effective public-private private and civil society partnerships and building on the experience and resourcing strategies of the partnerships,” the Deputy Minister added.

Mrs Patricia Dovi Sampson, a Director at the Information Ministry, in her welcome address, said dissemination of information is critical to good democratic governance.

Therefore, the Ministry, she said, was established to formulate policies and design programmes as the main vehicle for delivering timely and accurate information to the citizenry as well as solicit feedback to refine policies.

She said the Ministry has collaborated with the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) to successfully organise four national policy summits since 2017 up to date.

Mr Benjamin Amenumey, the Chief Operating Officer of UMB, said the private sector is an important partner for accelerating growth and development of the national economy, hence the bank’s commitment to support the Ministry in organising the event.

He said the Summit was one of the best platforms to give voice to the citizenry, private sector and state-owned institutions to share their ideas, views and offer contributions towards accelerating national development.