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A new private sector development strategy is to be rolled out by the end of the year, to stimulate the country�s trade and export competitiveness, Trade and Industry Minister Ms Hannah Tetteh announced on Monday. Speaking at a roundtable on Ghana�s trade policy direction, Ms Tetteh said the new strategy would replace the current one, which would end by the close of the year. The new strategy, which comes into force in January 2010, will focus on speeding up the legal and regulatory reforms, development of the small, medium scale enterprises sector by building the linkage between big companies to promote subcontracting. Other areas of focus will be diversification of the country�s export products and development of rural enterprises. Ms Tetteh said the recent slip in rankings on the world competitiveness report was an indication that either the country�s trade policies were not working well or implementation was slow. It is in this direction that the new strategy will adopt a more aggressive approach to trade promotion to enable the country compete on the international market. Mr Patrick Nimo, Director at the Ministry of Trade, said areas of priority for the trade policy were capacity development for effective participation in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations and promoting a level playing field in the domestic market by ensuring that export incentives and regulations effectively support the development of a competitive export sector. In addition, the policy will focus on effectively administering competition rules and consumer protection policy, enhancing capacity of exporters to meet sanitary and phyto-sanitary regulations and speedy and efficient customs clearance, effective inspection of imports, exports and transit goods. Mr Nick Westcott, British High Commissioner, said trade was essential for development and growth and pledged his country�s continuous support to enable Ghana get the best out of the trade relations.