EU To Support Trade Ministry With 15m Euros

FOUR PUBLIC institutions are to have a complete revamp of their productivity following a European Union (EU) financial support through the Trade Related Assistance and Quality Enabling (TRAQUE) Programme which has officially been launched in Accra. With a two year extension, Ghana is expected to be the beneficiaries of a total amount of 15,000,000 (Fifteen Million) Euros to transform quality-related institutions, as well as indirectly benefit the local industries, especially, the SMEs. The trade component which is a part of the TRAQUE Programme, is also underway, where about 20 of the Ministry's staff are undertaking capacity-building courses in Strategy and Policy development and implementation, and such capacity-building courses are to be rolled- out in the coming months and years. The aim of the component is to primarily strengthen the capacities of staff of the Ministry to deal with all kinds of issues in support of the National Trade Policy, as well as the Industrial Policy. Beneficiaries under the programme are to gain negotiation skills, organizational effectiveness and change management strategies, project management and public -private partnership among others. Following the design of the (TRAQUE), a financing agreement was signed between the European Commission and the Republic of Ghana on the January, 2011. As part of that agreement Grant Component, an amount of 700,000 Euros (Seven hundred thousand Euros) has been given to four institutions to undertake programmes in their related-fields. Economic Partnership Agreement implementation, as well as Standards, National Quality Institutions and export oriented private sector are targeted. TRAQUE consists of a Trade Component, a Quality Component and a Grant Component. The intention of the TRAQUE Programme is to support the Ministry of Trade and Industry in private sector development, trade facilitation, and capacity building with special attention to industrial strategy and post. Ghana's long-term vision sets out to achieve consistently higher levels of GDP growth and job creation, through increased domestic production and international trade. This requires a new crop of staff at the Ministry with a change management strategy, capable of transforming Ghana into an industry-driven economy that delivers high levels of productivity, as well as decent jobs, on a scale significant enough to achieve equitable social and economic development. In this regard, the future capacity building courses outlined under the TRAQUE Programme for the staff of MOTI and its related Agencies, is in the right direction. The Ministry of Trade and Industry with the Support from the EU under the TRAQUE Programme is working to indirectly transform enterprises, generate employment, strengthen Ghana's trade and industrial position and improve livelihoods through the full implementation of the TRAQUE programme.