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President John Dramani Mahama has stated that Ghana and Africa must move up the global value chain as a critical factor in opening up employment opportunities for the people. He decried the current state where African countries had been designated as producers and exporters of primary products in the global value chain while being importers of finished goods. That situation, he noted, meant that the millions of young people coming out of school every year would find it difficult to secure decent jobs. President Mahama said this when he participated in a high-level dialogue on �Employment and decent work for inclusive and sustainable development� in New York, United States of America, last Tuesday. Organised by the Ford Foundation in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the forum was meant to find antidotes to unemployment that continues to threaten the growth of many countries, particularly in the developing world. President Mahama participated in the first round of discussions which was moderated by Richard Quest, host of Quest Means Business on CNN. Other discussants included Mrs Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile; Mr Luis Guillermo Solis, President of Costa Rica; Mr Juan Orlando Hernandez, President of Honduras; Mr Guy Ryder, Director-General, ILO; Mr Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO of the Coca Cola Company. Their topic for discussion was "Accelerating decent work for inclusive and sustainable development.� Priority President Mahama said creating decent jobs should be a major priority of African countries if they were to improve the quality of lives of the people. He and the panel members agreed that adding value to primary products was the key to unlocking wealth creation. Ghana's challenge President Mahama said the problem with Ghana was that the economic structure since independence had not moved beyond marketing and exporting primary products. Development space, he said, was therefore, not widened enough to create employment opportunities. "It is a time bomb if you don't provide jobs for young people coming out of school because the devil finds work for idle hands," Mr Mahama said. Africa, the President said, was known to be the fastest growing continent, stressing that this must match up with job creation. Overcoming the challenge President Mahama told the gathering that Ghana was making serious efforts to reverse the trend, citing the introduction of the Youth Enterprises Support (YES) initiative and investment in skills and vocational education as examples of some of the steps taken. When Mr Quest asked the Presidents what legacy they would want to leave in the area of job creation after their tenures, all of them said they would want to see their people, especially the youth, engaged in jobs that would guarantee them better lives.