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Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia assured the country’s engineers of the government’s unwavering support to help industrialize Ghana.
The vice-president gave this assurance in a speech read on his behalf by the minister responsible for public enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe at the closing banquet on 7e edition of Africa Engineering Week and 5e African Engineering Conference at Marriott Hotel, Airport, Accra on Thursday 7the October 2021.
Speaking under the theme of the conference: “Engineering, Inter-African Trade and the Sustainable Development Goals,” Dr Bawumia said “today in Ghana we have embraced the Sustainable Development Goals in everything we do. The budget cycle is linked to the SDGs. We are currently seeking contributions to develop our national budget for the period 2022 to 2025 ”.
Alhaji Bawumia explained that the African Continental Free Trade Area, whose secretariat is privileged to host Ghana, is strengthening the role of trade in economic transformation.
He added that Africa has a unique problem of creating jobs overseas through imports while our exports also create jobs overseas as we cannot add value to local raw materials before export.
The message continued that as part of the government’s efforts to accelerate the industrialization program, a number of initiatives that require strong input from engineering practitioners have been put in place. Among these are the One-District, One-Factory and One-Village One-Dam initiatives.
He therefore commissioned engineers in Africa to create an African brand by harmonizing standards in engineering training, products and services. This, he said, can be done by working with relevant bodies towards the integration of the continent through better air links, roads and digital infrastructure.
The vice-president also congratulated Eng. Carlien Bou-Chedid, the first Ghanaian woman to hold the enviable position of President of the Federation of African Engineering Organizations (FAEO).
The President of the FAEO, Ing. For her part, Ms. Carlien Bou-Chedid said that Africa will need innovative solutions for its development by raising awareness of intellectual property rights.
She explained that bringing innovation to the market requires systemic change in education, patents and funding.
She said that in all of this governments must be prepared to fund research.
She also said that young engineers need to be guided and that the engineers’ forum is an important avenue for developing future engineers.
She called for the need to expand access to digital infrastructure and access to finance for women in engineering.
Fraternal messages were delivered by Ingr. Mustafa Balarabe Shehu, Executive Vice President of the World Engineering Federation (WFEO); Presidents of the West African Federation of Engineering Organizations (WAFEO), the North African Federation of Engineering Organizations (NAFEO), the East African Federation of Engineering Organizations (EAFEO), the Central African Federation of Engineering Organizations (CAFEO) and the Southern African Federation of Engineering Organizations (SAFEO). The president of the Nigerian Society of Engineers also delivered a fraternal message as the member country with the highest number of delegates to this year’s conference.
The president of the host engineering institution, the Ghana Institution of Engineering, Ing. The Rev. Teacher. Charles Anum Adams, welcomed the guests to the banquet and thanked the FAEO for choosing Ghana as the host country for the 7e edition of Africa Engineering Week and 5e Engineering Conference in Africa.
The conference was chaired by Eng. FAEO Outgoing President Martin Manuhwa, who in his closing remarks told young engineers to aspire to inhale before they expire. He congratulated the GhIE and the organizing team for doing such a wonderful job in hosting the events flawlessly. He noted that the Ghana conference is the best managed ever in FAEO history, even with a very late approval for GhIE to host
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