laise with appropriate ministries-event organisers told

(fin)
Story: Boahene Asamoah

THE Chief Director at the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development (PSD) and President’s Special Initiative (PSI), Mr Seth Evans Addo, has called on international events organisers to liaise with the appropriate government agencies in the planning of events to ensure their success.
He said lack of co-ordination had characterised many such events, leading to their failure to achieve the aims.
Mr Addo made this known at the launch of the first All African Business Summit in Accra on Thursday.
The summit, which comes of on September 6 to 8 this year in Accra, will attract business executives and firms from 20 African countries as well as foreign investors around the world.
Mr Addo said “it is advisable to liaise with the relevant public agencies to ensure that both planning and execution of such events are done without any hitches” and called for a mechanism to track the effectiveness of such summits so as to ensure that their objectives were achieved.
Speaking at the ceremony, a Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry, PSD and PSI, Mr Kwadwo Affram Aseidu, said the holding of the summit in the country was historical, and that this was the first time a business summit was being organised by the private sector in Africa.
He said the government would lend its support to the private sector to enable it to brace itself for the challenges of globalisation.
“The growing interest that our development partners are showing in the region, particularly the United States, the European Union, Japan, China and India presents us with a challenge”
The Chief Executive Officer and President of Kingsworld Limited, Mr Gordon Adjei, said the aim of the summit was to foster intra-African trade and present the continent as an venue for doing business.
He stated that the summit would tackle three major topics, namely; strategies for promoting successful intra-African trade, pulling down trade barriers and showcasing investment attractions in Africa.
Mr Adjei said over 20 countries had confirmed their participation in the event, and expressed the hope that many more countries would soon be attracted to the summit.
He emphasised the need for trade among African countries to ensure the development of the African continent.