Samuel Abu Jinapor, the minister of lands and natural resources, has encouraged participants in the extractive industry to uphold regional laws and work tirelessly to assist the mining and energy sectors reach their full potential for sustainable development.
He stressed that in order to achieve energy efficiency, environmental protection, and responsible ecosystem management for climate change, resource extraction in the extractive industry must be done in a sustainable way.
He emphasised that in order to achieve sustainable development, we must focus on sustainable practises and adopt a strategy that strikes a balance between social fairness, economic prosperity, and environmental stewardship.
According to Mr. Jinapor, the advantages of those resources might be maximised through their sustainable use.
At the fifth Ghana Mining and Energy Summit, which the Ghana Chamber of Miners hosted in Accra yesterday, he made the announcement.
Summit
The summit was organised by the chamber to provide a forum for influential figures in the nation's extractive industry to debate pressing challenges impacting the sector and consider creative strategies for maximising its potential for national growth.
The subject of this year's summit was "Harnessing mining and energy potential for sustainable national development."
The mining and energy summit, according to Mr. Jinapor, was a positive development since the two industries were "intrinsically intertwined, with energy being a key requirement for producing and processing minerals, while minerals remain very essential to the production of energy technologies."
He pointed out that the need for minerals and metals like lithium, bauxite, and manganese for the green transition as well as the requirement to ensure sustainable, environmentally responsible, and energy-efficient mining practises made the discussions about mining and energy even more crucial.
The minister emphasised that in order to fully realise the potential of mining and energy for sustainable development, immediate action must be taken to responsibly use such resources for socioeconomic development.
Mr. Jinapor emphasised the need to change the circumstances wherein certain regulations and contracts tended to offer mining firms tremendous profits at the expense of the nation.
He said that the country has lost out on advantages due to an overreliance on the export of raw minerals.
Responsibility
He warned participants in the extractive industry to steer clear of unlawful practises, including under-declaration, trade mis-invoicing, transfer pricing, illegal exploitation, and illicit money flows.
According to the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), for instance, the average amount of illegal money flowing from our nation through trade mis-invoicing is $1.44 billion annually, with under-invoicing of exports and over-invoicing of imports accounting for nearly another $1 billion.
If this keeps happening, we certainly cannot develop sustainably," he warned.
The minister said that the government remained dedicated to collaborating with all interested parties to guarantee adherence to strict environmental standards, the defence of neighbourhood communities, and the equitable sharing of benefits.
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