18.12.2009
Germany intensifies cooperation with Ghana
Germany wants to expand its successful cooperation with Ghana. The priority areas of this cooperation are agriculture, sustainable economic development and decentralisation. That was agreed at the government negotiations between the Republic of Ghana and the Federal Republic of Germany on 17 and 18 December 2009 in Bonn.
Speaking to the participants at the negotiations, Gudrun Kopp, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Development Ministry, emphasised: "We must direct German-Ghanaian cooperation towards future-oriented areas. By strengthening market orientation and performance-based incentive systems, we will be contributing to sustainable economic growth that will benefit large sections of the population."
She went on to say that Ghana had made enormous efforts in the past to implement a national strategy aimed at increasing national income and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. As a result, the country had been able to achieve impressive successes in terms of poverty reduction: the percentage of poor people had fallen from from 52 per cent (in 1990) to 28.5 per cent (in 2007). Compared with other countries in the region, Ghana is also a leading light with regard to political stability, democratisation and the protection of human rights. For example, Ghana also achieved an above-average outcome under the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The APRM is a self-evaluation procedure that is part of the African reform initiative NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development).
The German Development Ministry has made a commitment to Ghana of 130 million euros in total for the period from 2009 to 2011. This new pledge represents an increase of more than 60 per cent, raising Germany’s commitment from a previous level of 26.5 million euros a year to a new level of 43.33 million euros a year. In making this increase, the German government is realising its aim of giving particular support to partner countries that succeed in practising good governance.