The Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, has called on the business community to partner with the judiciary in its digitalisation drive to enhance justice delivery. She said the businesses could support the promotion of virtual hearings in courts across the country to ensure that parties in dispute could participate in proceedings without necessarily travelling to be at the trial. She explained that the Constitutional Instrument (CI) 87, which amended the High Court Civil Procedure Rules, made room for hearings to be conducted electronically via video link. This, she said, could save cost and time. The Chief Justice was speaking at the 12th edition of the Association of Ghana Industry (AGI) Industry and Quality awards. It was on the theme: 'Promoting local production in an ever changing business climate.' She urged businesses and chambers of commerce and industry to consider adopting regions, districts and different levels of court to provide line items such as e-auction platforms and e-signature for easy delivery of court proceedings and virtual hearing. 'Unfortunately, the Judiciary does not have enough facilities to make the option of virtual hearings available in all the 430 courts around the country,' the Chief Justice said. In all, 27 individuals and companies were recognised for their excellent performances with KEDA Ghana Ceramics Company Ltd winning the Overall Best Industrial Company of the Year award and GB Food grabbing the Overall Best National Quality Company of the Year. The Ghana Enterprise Agency, GIZ Ghana, and the European Union were given honorary awards. Chief Justice Torkornoo said efforts had been made to deal with the long time it took to settle trade and commercial disputes through the setting up of the Commercial Courts to exclusively deal with such cases. There are also opportunities for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for all commercial disputes. Mr K.T. Hammond, the Minister of Trade and Industry, said the country's economy would not improve with the unbridled a ppetite for imports. It was in this context that, he said, a decision was taken to restrict some of the imports to save the country's economy. For his part, the President of AGI, Dr Humphrey Ayim-Darke, said the Association supported deliberate policies to restrict the importation of items in which the country had local production capacity. 'AGI will continue to dialogue with government to develop targeted policy interventions that will enable businesses to increase production to meet both local and export demands,' he said. He said local production was a catalyst for job creation and economic growth with rippling effects on society, opportunities and shared prosperity for all. 'I wish to reiterate that local production is a necessity. It is a strategic path to resilience, prosperity, and sustainability in our ever-changing business climate,' Dr Ayim-Darke urged policymakers to create favourable conditions for local businesses through the provision of incentives, grants and supportive regulations. Sourc e: Ghana News Agency