Kumasi, Oct. 9, GNA - President John Atta Mills on Friday paid a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at his Manhyia Palace in Kumasi and repeated the government's resolve to tackle head-on the high unemployment facing the country.

The Chief of Staff, Mr John Henry Martey Newman, Trade and Industry Minister, Ms Hanna Tetteh and the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Opoku-Manu, were among top government officials who accompanied him. The President was in Kumasi to inaugurate a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art cocoa processing plant at Kaase, the industrial hub of the metropolis.

Construction work on the 16,000 square metre facility began last year.

President Mills in brief remarks before going into closed-door meeting with Otumfuo Osei Tutu said job creation was one of the top priorities of his Administration.

He welcomed the completion of the cocoa factory and said apart from giving employment, the plant would help to add value to Ghana's cocoa. In line with tradition, the President and his entourage presented bottles of schnapps to the Asantehene.