By Bajin D. Pobia
Wa, Oct. 17, GNA – The Youth in Export Programme (YiEP) has been designed to attract the youth into the agriculture, Arts and Craft value chain to prepare them for the export sector.
It is also to assist to bridge the wide unemployment gap and provide an avenue for them to contribute towards Ghana’s exports and decent incomes, while contributing to the generation of increased foreign revenues for the country.
Mr Samuel Dentu, a Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) said this at the launch of the second phase of the YiEP in Wa.
The 35 trainees drawn from the Upper West, Upper East, Savannah and Northern Regions were initiated into the programme to be trained by mentors on export product value chains such as cashew, shea and crafts especially, basketry, bead making and leather products within a six-month period.
On completion, GEPA would support the beneficiaries with the necessary inputs, logistics and facilities to produce products of their chosen businesses and crops under the supervision of their mentors who would serve as buyers of the products they produced.
The GEPA Deputy Chief Executive Officer said the programme was placed firmly within the context of the implementation of the National Export Development Strategy and it was expected to generate about US$25.3 billion in non-traditional exports by the year 2029.
Mr Dentu said the GEPA was therefore rolling out strategic interventions towards the realisation of this ambitious export revenue target and expressed the hope that the YiEP would no doubt quicken the pace of achieving the desired results at the end of the day.
He announced that the YiEP had attracted the attention of the USAID through the Ghana Trade and Investment Programme (GTI) and would soon receive some grant funding from the GTI.
Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, who graced the occasion, lauded the initiative aimed at creating employment for the youth in the export sector, developing the economy and enhancing the standard of living in the country.
He expressed happiness that the programme was expanded to include the Upper West Region and other selected regions to provide opportunities for more youth to reach their full potentials and increase the number of women trainees in promoting gender equalities, which was crucial to the growth of a nation.
He said the youth all over the world had been acknowledged as an important human resource with the potential to contribute to national development and, therefore, must be accorded such recognition and be involved in national development by the government and other stakeholders.
GNA