At this year’s Africa Prosperity Dialogue which is currently underway at the Peduase Presidential Lodge in the Eastern Region, Ghana’s Lands and Natural Resources Minister Samual Jinapor who was at the podium, addressed participants on Ghana’s extraction industry. He called for the adoption of a common position on the exploitation and management of Natural Resources across the continent. He said for Africa to benefit from its natural resources, particularly, in the wake of the emerging critical minerals, it requires policies and strategies, to promote Intra-Africa trade to maintain the values of these minerals in-country.
Mr Jinapor said across the globe, wherever Natural Resources have benefited the country and its citizens, it has hinged on the two fundamentals of value addition and indigenous participation in the exploration of the natural resource with resilience and resolution. The idea behind the Africa Prosperity dialogue which has become a transformational conference on the continent is to utilise Africa’s untapped potential and resources to advance economic fortunes and prosperity.
Speaking on the theme “Extracting greater value from our mineral, the case of Gold and Lithium in Ghana, the Lands Minister Mr. Samuel Jinapor said Africa’s Natural Resources for years has been the wheel that drives most economies around the world. He said Africa still holds 30 percent of the worlds mineral reserves including large minerals of green and emerging minerals.
Mr. Jinapor said, Africa’s inability to add value to its minerals is largely due to over dependence on foreign interest and the export of raw mineral is denying the continents linkages to other sectors of the African economy. He said, as the world transitions into green energy with lithium and other minerals becoming critical for this transition, there is the need to interrogate the benefits of this green mineral on the continent. The Theme for this year Africa Prosperity Dialogue is “delivering prosperity in Africa, Produce, Add Value and Trade”. The three-day event will end on Saturday 27 January 2024.
