Jinapor Woos US Carbon Investors
Samuel Abu Jinapor and the US Ambassador to Ghana in a group photograph with members of the US delegation and officials of the ML&NR
SAMUEL ABU Jinapor, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, has called on investors in the US, to assist and support Ghanaian companies on carbon trading.
According to him, this will among others benefit and promote Ghana’s forest sector.
Mr. Jinapor, who made this known, threw the invitation Monday when a high-powered US congressional delegation paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra, saying, “Our relations are still strong where the rule of law is the norm not exception.”
The meeting was to among other things discuss matters of common interest between the two countries.
The minister extolled the historical relationship between Ghana and the United States of America, noting that, through the incredible works of the current US Ambassador to Ghana, the relationship has been further strengthened and elevated to a new impetus.
Mr. Jinapor also gave an insight into why framers of Ghana’s governance structure married both lands and natural resources under one ministry.
“The framers of our governance architecture were deliberate enough to put lands and natural resources under one ministry. The idea is the manner in which you exploit and manage your natural resources has an impact on your landscape. This is a ministry responsible for the Lands and Natural Resources of our country. By that, all the lands in Ghana, forest, wildlife and mineral resources are situated here in this Ministry,” he said.
Throwing more light on each sub-sector under his outfit, the minister highlighted the key mandate of the ministry saying it covers the three broad sub-sectors of Land, Forestry and Mineral Resources.
In the mining sector, Mr. Jinapor recognised that illegal small-scale mining is a major challenge to the government, nonetheless the Akufo-Addo government has since assumption of office in 2017, embarked on vigorous and aggressive interventions aimed at making the sector more attractive and improve revenue generation.
“We have the large-scale mining sector and small-scale mining sector. The small-scale mining sector contributes 40% to our gold output. As you know until recently, we were the leading gold producer in Africa and sixth in the world,” he stated.
Touching on the lands sector, the minister said his outfit and the Lands Commission were currently rolling out systems to digitalise all land records to enable the commission keep proper land transactions and land reform programmes.
Edward Case, member of the US Congress and on the Natural Resources Committee, who led the delegation on behalf of Congressman Raul Grijalva, thanked Ghana for her multilateral cooperation so far, and pledged the determination of the US to reinforce their international commitment to protecting lives and improving livelihoods.
The US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia E. Palmer, who was part of the visiting delegation, said the team was in Ghana to have a closer look at a variety of issues surrounding Ghana’s Natural Resources.
She also cited Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, Cocoa and Sustainable Farming as some of the issues bookmarked by the Congressional Committee as part of their visit.
She acknowledged Mr. Jinapor for his relentless efforts in championing issues in the natural resources of Ghana.