Accra, Aug. 3, GNA - A seven-member National Steering Committee for Investor Survey Project (ISP) was on Monday inaugurated to advise government on policy implications based on research findings to inform its policy direction to attract investments. Chaired by Ms Hanna Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, with membership from both the public and private sectors, the Committee is, among other things, to create synergies between the ISP and other national programmes, as well as rally stakeholders' support and create awareness about survey and its contribution in investment promotion and development.

The ISP, which is being championed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), is a shift from the general investment promotion campaigns to a mop targeted approach supported by evidence-based strategies. It aims at bringing together Investment Promotion Stakeholders (IPS) and the beneficiaries of surveys to implement their findings to promote a culture of unity among the IPS to share a common vision, as well as evolve a common message on what to do to improve the investment climate.

This is to ensure that investment promotion contributes to the achievement of development objectives such as poverty reduction, economic diversification, balanced development, technology transfer, education and skills accumulation for capacity building. Inaugurating the Committee in Accra, Ms Tetteh said investment promotion would be most effective when stakeholders could maximize their individual contributions and synchronize their efforts with a shared perception on policies and coordination of resources and activities. She said investment promotion in developing economies should not be seen as a responsibility for governments alone, but as a collective responsibility for all stakeholders in the business environment. Ms Tetteh called on students pursuing entrepreneurship and business programmes to begin to figure out the possibility of establishing enterprises which could be linked to the large firms and trans-national companies in the country and beyond.

The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre is the lead implementing agency for the ISP with assistance from other sub-implementation committees. Its first report is expected in 2010. 3 Aug. 09