Â
The meeting aims at re-positioning the Ministry of Trade and Industry and its affiliate Agencies to contribute meaningfully to the implementation of the Medium-term National Development Plan (MTNDP) 2019–2023 attracted several institutions.
In his remarks, the Minister, Dr. Edward Hinga Sandy, stressed the importance of the Ministry to develop a comprehensive work programme in line with an effective structural review, to re-position the ministry and affiliate agencies to efficiently deliver on their mandates consistent to the national development plan.
Dr. Sandy emphasized that with a strong policy on our industrial value chain added to our expertise, will enable the government to achieve a production driven economy. He reiterated that the ministry has a supervisory function over its agencies and urged them to improve on having a healthy working relationship with the Ministry.
He expressed thanks and appreciation to participants drawn from the Ministry, agencies, resource persons and consultants for taking a deep dive into existing structures, policy paper, in order to come up with tangible and feasible programmes in re-positioning both the ministry and its agencies to play a pivotal role in the country’s economic growth trajectory.
The program, chaired by the Permanent Secretary Mr. Reginald Thomas, prioritized 5 thematic areas. They are as follows: (i) Private sector development and entrepreneurship, (ii) Policy, Programme, Research and Information, (iii) Trade promotions, (iv) Investment and Industrial promotion, and (v) Regulatory Environment.
The program was climaxed with presentations from staff of the Ministry and its Affiliate agencies. Petroleum Regulatory Agency, Sierra Leone Standard Bureau, Produce Monitoring Board, Corporate Affairs Commission, Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency, Cooperatives and Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency, Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Company, and Sierra Leone Local Content Agencies.
