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The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Hon. Barbera Oteng Gyasi has indicated that, government will soon cut sod for the expansion of works at the Bonwire Kente Weaving Village in Kwabre East Municipality of the Ashanti region.
This project, when fully completed, will position the Bonwire Kente Weaving Village as an attractive destination for tourists and for commerce.
Hon. Barbera Oteng, made the statement at the signing of MOU between government of Ghana and China Bengbu International Technology & Economic Cooperation Ltd in kumasi for the construction of Theatre / Conference Centre in Kumasi, said opportunity for cultural goods in the global market is enormous. In 2019, the African Report indicated that Africa’s cultural goods sector employed about half a million people and generated USD4.2bn in revenue.
She emphasize that, Ashanti Region has a comparative advantage in cultural goods in the country, and we remain resolute in our endeavour to provide the right interventions to help us position ourselves competitively in the global cultural goods market.
Tourism development in Kumasi and for that matter the Ashanti Region, is going to be a concerted effort between statal and parastatal agencies, working in tandem with the private sector, academia and local communities in realising the set objectives of the industry.
“I am happy to say the innovative and revolutionary phenomenon that fuses Ghanaian culture with digital technology and further reemphasises the importance of arts and culture in the promotion and development of a country is the Kumawood movie industry”.
I want to also mention that the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has made a remarkable progress with the preparation of the Creative Arts Bill, and its passage will help to put in place the requisite regulatory framework and infrastructure.
As a Ministry we also appreciate the enormous role that the celebration of festivals which are usually accompanied by rich folklore music and dances in the Region present, and when repackaged, will help to promote both domestic and international tourism in the country.
Hon. Barbera Oteng Gyasi said Using low budgets, record breaking production time and consistency, Kumawood has drawn a lot of attention from the global and regional film industries and has promoted Ghana well enough. Government recognises the extraordinary achievements of the Kumawood movie industry and sees the industry as a major cultural and economic tool that can be harnessed to revolutionarize the creative arts and cultural industry.
She streess that, the Creative Arts Bill when passed into law will be one of the major steps towards helping and enabling the Kumawood movie industry stand shoulder to shoulder with other major global industries like Nollywood, Bollywood and Hollywood.
She add that Kumasi’s status as the Garden City of West Africa has not totally effaced, and I believe in my heart of hearts that we can regain this status. That is why we as a Ministry, appreciate Government’s initiative of tree planting as spearheaded by the Forestry Commission.
We should therefore continue to find strategic ways of making urban greening a crucial consideration in our development projects, while urban greying mainly through wanton agriculture, unauthorized residential projects and internecine commerce should be moderated.
She said, the Ministry of Tourism will continue to work with all stakeholders especially Manhyia, KMA, Forestry Commission, KNUST and other agencies towards making Kumasi regain its green and Garden City status.
By: Frank Ntow, kumasi
