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Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation (MESTI), has underlined the need for deliberate effort to utilize the expertise of the nation’s research scientists and locally developed technologies to drive national development.

He blamed the slow pace of Ghana’s socio-economic development on the neglect of technologies and innovations developed locally by its research institutions.

Prof Frimpong-Boateng, noted that some countries which were at par with Ghana in the 1960s, were making giant strides in development because of the reliance on local scientific expertise and innovations.

Addressing separate meetings with the management and staff of the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) and the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), in Fumesua, he said, things needed to change.

He was there as was part of a working visit to acquaint himself with the work of these institutes which are under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Prof Frimpong-Boateng indicated that, the country could not continue to downplay the critical role of science and technology in its developmental agenda, saying, no nation could develop without making optimal use of indigenous scientific knowledge.

He spoke of the government’s resolve to increase funding for research from the current abysmal level, to about one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the short term, and increasing to two per cent in the long term.
It was additionally working to ensure that research findings were fully utilized.

The Minister applauded the scientists for the good job they were doing under challenging conditions.

Dr. Victor Kwame Agyeman, Director General of CSIR, said they found it heart-warming the government’s recognition of the critical importance of research to national development.

He said the CSIR institutes were ready to partner it to implement its developmental initiatives.