Friedrich Kitschelt Exchanging Documents With Ken Ofori-Atta At The Flagstaff House In Accra Yesterday. With Them Are President Akufo-Addo And Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President Of The Federal Of Republic Of Germany
Ghana and Germany yesterday jointly signed a $100 million agreement.
It follows an earlier Memorandum of Understand (MoU) signed between the two countries in Berlin, Germany, on the sidelines of the G20-Africa Partnership Summit in June this year.
The deal was signed when the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and a high powered delegation from his country paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Flagstaff House yesterday.
Impact
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who signed on behalf of the government and people of Ghana, said, “It’s a clear sign of Germany’s identification of Ghana’s importance in the region and the economic zone that has to be supported; and the work our president has done in bringing macroeconomic stability and fiscal consolidation is the way to go to ensure that we can cascade in foreign private investment and to support our investment drive.
“We are looking forward to picking out some specific areas in energy, healthcare, job creation skills from thereon and expect that this will be a very special relationship, going forward,” he noted.
German Deputy Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Friedrich Kitschelt, congratulated President Akufo-Addo and his government on the leading role Ghana has taken.
“With the concluding of the MoU today, we are adding a bilateral supplement towards a mutual programme in the area of energy efficiency and renewable energies to the G20-Africa renewable programme, based on reform initiatives in Ghana which we know are very dear to you, Mr President, and your government,” Mr Friedrich Kitschelt posited.
Present at the signing ceremony were Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sherry Ayorkor Botchwey; Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany, Gina Ama Blay; Minister for Energy, Boakye Agyarko and Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Dr Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.
Commitment
Later at a joint press briefing, President Akufo-Addo observed, “Germany is an important and world leader in the area of renewable energy, and this is another extremely important area of concern to us.
“We have significant hydro resources as we all know; and we believe that going down the road, a mixture of hydro and renewable energies represents the best mix for the energy generation of the future, and we are hoping again that this is an area where we can have a meaningful intercourse with Germany.”
Aside that, he indicated, “There are many areas of international concern where Ghana and Germany stand shoulder-to-shoulder in our view of issues about terrorism; and above all, we have taken a great deal of inspiration from the commitment of Germany’s leaders in supporting the options that Ghanaians have taken to assume greater responsibility for their economic development.”
He added, “The ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ is one of the finest and greatest resonance of the leadership of Germany and it provides another important basis for this continuing and fruitful dialogue that there is between our two countries.
“I am particularly happy that today he has come with a very impressive business delegation and we are hoping that the delegation would have a very serious and meaningful intercourse with our own business community so that the very strong relations that are between our two countries would continue to develop.”
Commendation
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier indicated, “Ghana has shown the world in the last 12 months that it is possible to move away from divisive tendencies through determined actions, and the data available to us have improved this; and we are more optimistic more than we were a year or two ago.
“The interest on the part of Ghana in Germany’s investment is just as great because it’s not only about investing companies and plants, but about German companies bringing something here that you urgently need.”
Mr Steinmeier said, “We hope that we would be able to partner more strongly in the field of university training and in view of that, I will be paying a visit to the University of Ghana and would be opening a study course for advanced university studies.”
As part of his itinerary, he announced, “We will also be paying a visit to the company, Scania, which offers vocational training on the basis of the system that we established in Germany.
“We will have the opportunity to talk to young students about their expectations and perspectives here in Ghana and tonight, we will have the opportunity to talk about security situation and the security architecture in the West African sub-region and questions about migration and many other issues.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent