Accra, April 15, GNA - Government is taking steps to assist the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to patent all research findings by securing intellectual property rights for innovations, Ms. Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, said on Wednesday.

She underscored the urgent need to protect the work and research findings of scientists, saying the move would bring in revenue to the various institutes, scientists and the country through commercialization of such research findings.

Ms. Ayittey was speaking at the opening session of the Ghana Development Dialogue organized by Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) and the World Bank. The theme for the Dialogue is: "Building Private Sector Competitiveness for Growth, Jobs and Poverty Reduction," and it is to create a platform for exploring options for policy initiatives in enhancing the business environment for enterprise in the country. Policy makers, entrepreneurs, academia, civil society and development partners discussed the prevailing business conditions and the possibilities for alternatives.

Ms. Ayittey said the private sector must strike partnership with the scientific, research and engineering communities to take advantage of the knowledge that the research communities possessed for industrial expansion and job creation.

"I hope that this event will be the platform upon which the weak collaboration that exists between the private sector and the scientific research and engineering communities in Ghana will be strengthened and appropriate frameworks and strategies developed for mutual benefit," she said.

Ms. Ayittey asked the private sector to be innovative, saying that was the only way they could become competitive and be able to present products and services more effectively, efficiently for both local and foreign markets and stay ahead of the competition. Ms. Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, said Government would not use procurement to subsidize an ineffective private sector. Instead it would create conducive environment to enhance the competitiveness of the private sector to enable them to compete on equal footing with their foreign counterparts. She said it was high time the focus shifted from discussion to implementation to stimulate investment and to enable the private sector to thrive.

Ms Tetteh said the Ministry of Trade and Industry would establish a Trade and Tariffs Advisory Board to promote a transparent tariff regime to ensure a level playing field for all economic operators. The formation of the Board will be a front runner to the establishment of the Ghana International Trade Commission. The Ministry would also commence reforms aimed at overhauling Ghana's quality infrastructure regarding Standards, Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM). Dr A.B. Salifu, Director-General CSIR, in a speech read for him, said the dialogue aimed at helping build local productive capacities in a private sector-led process and called for increased cooperation between government, industry and academia to ensure the diversity of goods and services produced in the country were competitive in the local and international arena.