Ghana and German have started negotiations on modalities for mutual development cooperations for the next two years.
The biennial negotiations, taking place when government is seeking to consolidate it economic gains in the coming years, marks the 50th anniversary of cooperations and the 75th financial and technical cooperations between both countries.
A successful negotiation will enable the German government to make new commitments in furtherance of existing cooperations in trade, energy and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and among others.
Ghana in November this year signed a bilateral debt agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany, marking the sixth of such agreement under the country’s ongoing debt restructuring programme.
“We are also aligning this support to the budget and try to focus on Private sector initiative. You will recall that in the budget we mentioned that we are going to establish three garment factories,” said Mr Thomas Nyarko Ampem, Deputy Minister of Finance.
Government has been given the privilege to direct where the commitments should go in terms of priority areas for development, he said.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education, said President John Mahama considered the relationship between both countries as a strategic partnership and not just a cooperation.
He urged the German delegations to ensure continuous support to TVET and prioritise cooperation on security in their negotiations due to the implication it had on the stability of the country.
“Significantly….because of the threat of terrorism and instability in the Sahelian region,” he said.
In an interview, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, the Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, commended the German government and observed that the local governance sector receives a chunk of German support to Ghana through projects the seek to implement the decentralisation agenda.
“In fact, they are supporting about 75 vulnerable districts that are very poor with 10 million euros. Thus 6 million in 2025 and four million in 2026,” he said.
Madam Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, said she expected that provisions for agribusiness, processing and garment would be made in the negotiations.
“Especially commercial contract farming specifically to feed industry because in the agribusiness sub sector, what we are supposed to do is to go into commercial contract forming with the private sector with government leading it and the private sector driving it.
“To feed our industry, it will interest you to know that we import our tomatoes, we import onions to feed industries, ” she said.
Mr Frederik Landshöft, the German Ambassador to Ghana, said both countries had shared value system and a history of colonialism that entrenched the need for trade, cooperations and innovation to develop both economies.
To highlight the essence of cooperations, he observed that while Ghana had abundant workforce in search of job opportunities, Germany had labour shortage and depended on skilled migration.
“Ghana and Germany are partners in many ways. We share more that proximity in the alphabet. We share convictions about the worlds we want to live in. Both of our countries belief in a rule based international order,” he said.
Mr Christoph Rauh, Head of Directorate, Africa at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), said in line with labour market needs and sustainable financing model, the German government was establishing bases for regular migration to local and international labour market.
“Our cooperation has an element of a win-win situation. In Germany, it is powerful to have a business partner in Africa and in a country like Ghana where German investments can take place. For the people of Ghana, it is important to have those investments coming from outside,” he told the Ghana News Agency.
Source: GNA
