PRs charged to effectively communicate trade issues

Mr. Dawarnoba Baeka, Chief Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), has tasked Communications and Public Relations Units under the ministry to brainstorm and come out with out-of- the- box strategies to effectively communicate current positive trends and innovations in that sector to industry players in the country.

He said this the only way to keep stakeholders in the Ghanaian business enclave abreast of what is happening in the trade and industrial sector to enable them make informed decisions and get involved in the economic development efforts to contribute their quota.

Mr Baeka was addressing the formal opening of a two-day workshop for Public Relation Executives and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and other subsidiary agencies at Koforidua in the Eastern Region.

The goal of the workshop was to create a common platform for all MOTI communication and Public Affairs agencies to help integrate and intensify their communication strategies, tap into the knowledge and expertise of resources persons, for enhanced performance.

The Chief Director blamed them for not doing enough to reactivate the information and experience-sharing platform already available to them optimally to disseminate well-packaged information to those doing business in the country.

“The growing public outcry and complaints that the Ghanaian economy is failing in an indication of your failure to be up to the task”, he stressed.

Citing the case of a farmer who produces tomatoes at his backyard and preserves the entire harvest in cans to last for two years, he added that “if such activity is well communicated to the people, tomato farmers who could not sell their produce would adopt the simple technology and there would not be no case of tomato farmers threatening to commit suicide because they could not market their tomatoes”.

Earlier in a welcome address, Nana Akrasi Sarpong, the Acting Director of Communication and Public Affairs at the Ministry of Trade and Industry said MOTI is responsible for the industrial and economic development of the country.

He said over the years, it had come out with policies to promote investment, create jobs and improve the living standard of the people, “despite this public complaints about the ailing economy is too rife”.

Nana Akrasi Sarpong, called for the engagement of stakeholders in policy formulation process to facilitate better outcomes of MOTIs work.