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Trade and industry Minister, Hannah Tetteh has stated emphatically that the Central Region as the cradle of education and tourism hub of the nation has no reason to be named among the poorest regions in the country. In her address to the inauguration of the newly constituted Central Regional Development Commission (CEDECOM) at Cape Coast on Wednesday, Ms Tetteh said the region is the cradle of education and has many international monuments like the castles which could be harnessed to create wealth for the people. She said education could also be used to create wealth in the area of private sector universities explaining that there is no need for Central Region to be poor. She therefore impressed upon the University of Cape Coast and Cape Coast Polytechnic and other tertiary institutions to help position the region to benefit from the oil trade by training skilled labour for the sector. Ms Tetteh expressed worry over a situation where after Ghana discovered oil, people had to be recruited from neighboring Ivory Coast to come and work in the sector, and challenged the institutions to help train competent personnel for the sector. �We need to plan ahead and take full advantage of the situation and produce the skilled labour the oil sector needs�, she added. Turning her attention to role of CEDECOM in the development of Central Region, Ms. Tetteh said the commission was meant to be a catalyst for development of the region adding that government attached importance to its activities and impressed upon the 15-member board chaired by Central Regional Minister Ama Benyiwa Doe to use their expertise to create opportunities for the people in the region. For her part, Mrs. Ama Benyiwa Doe, said CEDECOM as the technical wing of the Central Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) has an aim to promote tourism development, enhance integrated growth and reduce poverty. This, she added, was to be done through the harnessing of abundant resources in the region to create employment for the people and urged members of the board to live up to the task. She therefore appealed to them to help expand the basic operating parameters of the commission to help create extra opportunities for people in the region. A member of the board, Mr. Sam Brew Butler, on behalf of his colleagues, pledged to work hard to bring the needed change President John Evans Atta Mills promised Ghanaians in the 2008 campaign. Other members of the board include MR. Spencer Taylor, Acting CEDECOM Executive, director, Mr. Casely Ato Forson, MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam (AEE), Nana Kwamena Ansah, resprensentaive of the Regional House of Chiefs, Mr. Kwame Oppong, RCC Director, Rev. Mrs. Veronica Essuman, Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Mnicipal Chief Executive and Dr. Joseph Nuertry, Cape Coast Metropolitan Health director.