President John Dramani Mahama and his Singapore counterpart, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, on Wednesday discussed cooperation in sustainable development and value-added agriculture.
The two leaders anchored their talks around a pioneering carbon markets agreement and plans to scale agro-processing and jobs in Ghana.
A statement issued by Ghana’s Presidency said the bilateral talks took place in Singapore as part of President Mahama’s three-day state visit to the Southeast Asian nation.
“The first Asian country to sign the implementation of a carbon credit agreement with Ghana and the first in Africa, is Singapore,” President Shanmugaratnam stated, casting the deal as a platform to channel investment into low-carbon growth.
“Other areas of interest are agribusiness, downstream processing of products like cashew, cocoa… and we are ready and glad to pursue them together.”
President Tharman acknowledged that “jobs are a challenge, but that’s also something you are dealing with,” he said, underscoring Singapore’s interest in helping develop Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) alongside green and agro-industrial projects.
On his part, President Mahama stated that Ghana was targeting job creation through a twin push in modern agriculture and services.
“On tackling the challenge with jobs, agribusiness has space for work and lots of employment, and we have, as part of our Reset Agenda, put a lot of focus on it,” he said.
“Ghana has more than enough arable land for farming,” he added, highlighting the Volta Economic Corridor: “We have over two million hectares of land along the river for development into agro-processing parks, irrigated lands, etc., and that surely will be another game changer under our Resetting Ghana and the 24-hour economy programme.”
President Mahama also pointed to the “creative and digital services” economy as a rapid employer for Ghana’s youth.
The sector, he said, “employs faster and creates 5 jobs easily before a job is created in the traditional job markets.”
He framed the broader partnership as part of Ghana’s role in Africa’s economic opening under the AfCFTA, while congratulating Singapore on 60 years of independence.
“We are stabilising the economy,” he said, and the next phase is to convert stability into sustainable, job-rich growth through green finance, downstream processing and digital opportunity.
Source: GNA
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