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Mrs Gifty Eugenia Kusi, Deputy Western Regional Minister, has appealed to cabinet to consider the development needs of the region as it contributes significantly to the growth of the economy.

She said the Western Region has the bulk of the country's natural resources, solid minerals and hydrocarbons, provides bigger foreign exchange earnings, Gross Domestic Product and creates employment.

Delivering the welcome address, at the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) stakeholders engagement on mining, oil, gas and commodity trading report for 2015 and 2016 in Tarkwa, Mrs Kusi said Bank of Ghana figures show that the total revenue Ghana collected for exports stood at 13.8 billion dollars.

She said the breakdown showed that gold contributed about 5.8 billion dollars, while oil and cocoa was 3.1 billion and 2.7 billion dollars respectively.

"If these firgues are anything to go by, then we in the Western Region are really carrying the whole Ghana on our shoulders" she said

Mrs Kusi said the condition in some mining, oil and gas communities do not measure up to the huge resources that have over the years been extracted by the companies operating in such areas.

When mining, oil and gas activities come to an area, the Deputy minister said they attract a large workforce which mounts pressure on social amenities that the assemblies provides.

"The mining, oil and gas communities continue to suffer from the negative effects of the extraction of this finite resources and most of these communities happen to be among the deprived communities in the country, lacking tangible infrastructural facilities such as portable water, good health and educational facilities," she said.

Mrs Kusi what goes to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies as royalties was not adequate to solve their problems.

She said initiatives like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) which provides opportunity for public disclosure of revenues by extractive companies and government, would go a long way to complement existing structures of good governance and transparency in the country thereby putting on its toes.

"We believe making the people aware of revenue generated from the activities of extractive industries like mining, oil and gas, would engender citizens participation in the decision making process at three local level and thereby promote local economic development and poverty reduction," Mrs Kusi said.

She commended the Ghana EITI for the good work and urged participants to take the dissemination of these reports seriously and also share the knowledge they have acquired with their colleagues who did not have the opportunity to attend.