Making Ghanaians rich, greatest challenge to gov’t -Akuffo-Addo
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2002 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair left on Saturday for Sierra Leone on the third leg of a four-nation West African tour, saying his three-day stay in Ghana was successful.
"It is a successful and remarkable visit that I can't forget," Prime Minister Blair told journalists as he walked towards the aircraft of the British national carrier, British Airways to depart.
Mr Blair said he was particularly impressed about the dedication and commitment shown by the Ghanaian government to improve the life of its people. He was seen off by a government delegation led by Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama.
A joint statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British High Commission, said the visit, which was a follow-up to discussions held between President John Agyekum Kufuor and Prime Minister Blair in Chequers, last September, provided an opportunity to emphasise British support for those African governments committed to good governance, respect for human rights and economic reform.
During the visit, the two leaders reviewed their bilateral relations and reaffirmed their shared commitment and determination to develop stronger partnerships for the mutual benefit of their two countries and peoples, as well as to contribute to international peace, security and development.
"President Kufuor and Prime Minister Blair also deliberated on a variety of regional and international issues including the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), the importance of concerted international action to fight terrorism and the continued relevance of the Commonwealth in enhancing economic advancement of its members particularly the smaller ones."
Prime Minister Blair met with senior serving and retired military officers at the Ghana Armed Forces Staff College where he participated in a closed door meeting on conflict prevention, resolution and international peacekeeping.
He also addressed Parliament where he acknowledged the commendable progress made by Ghana in consolidating democratic values and good governance and underscored the crucial need to build stronger partnerships between the developed and developing worlds as the only way to confront challenges of globalisation.
Prime Minister Blair also visited a cocoa farm at Nankese in the Eastern Region, met with the Economic Management Team at the Cocoa Research Institute at New Tafo and paid a courtesy call on Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin at Ofori Paninfie at Kyebi.
Mr Blair, who arrived from Nigeria on Thursday, would spend a few hours with the Sierra Leonean government and British troops stationed in that country before rounding off his tour in Dakar, Senegal.
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New-Tafo (Eastern Region) 09 February 2002 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday said good governance, sound financial policies and liberalised trade are the ideal strategies for attracting investments into developing countries. He said Britain would offer assistance to developing countries to build up the capacity to ensure that such facilities were put in place to attract investors to operate.
Mr Blair accompanied by President John Agyekum Kufuor was speaking at a meeting with the Economic Management Team at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRAIG) on the second-day of his three-day official visit to Ghana at New-Tafo in the Eastern Region.
He commended the government for its courage to ensure sound financial discipline and low inflation, saying, "investors are mostly attracted to democratic and non-corrupt countries but not undemocratic and corrupt countries".
The British Prime Minister said Africa had huge markets and opportunities that developed countries should utilise for their advantage and asked developed countries to break all trade barriers and open up their markets for African countries.
Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Trade and Industry, appealed to developed countries to assist developing countries especially in trade negotiations. He said Ghanaians were innovative and very entrepreneurial and would take advantage of the elimination of export quotas on their products to increase production.
Mr Kwesi Abeasi, Executive Director of the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC), said the government had put in place enough policies and programmes, which required assistance from developed countries to attract investors. He said these included good governance, prudent management of the country's resources, which were the hallmarks for investment in Ghana.
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Kyebi (Eastern Region) 09 February 2002 - The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair said the relationship between developed and developing countries should be one of mutual respect and shared values. He, therefore, called values that ensured justice, fair opportunities and prosperity for all in international relationships.
Addressing a durbar of chiefs at Kyebi on Friday during a courtesy call on Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin as part of his three days visit to Ghana, Blair criticised the developed countries for preaching free trade and practising vice and promised the support of his government in helping to create the environment for all nations to benefit from the opportunities of the time.
Mr Blair later visited the Cocoa Research Institute at Akim Tafo and later a Cocoa farm at Nankese belonging to a member of Kuapa Kokoo Co-operative, which had been receiving support from some British institutions.
President John Agyekum Kufour said with the current changes in the world, the visit of Prime Minister Blair is a sign of the good vision that he had for the developing world.
He said what was important in the current era of globalisation was the place of humanity and praised Mr Blair for his respect for humanity in his political vision. President Kufour expressed the hope that the visit of Mr Blair would have a ripples effect on the West Africa sub-region.
The Okyenhene, Ofori Panin thanked the British Prime Minister for his visit and called on him together with other world leaders to work towards the creation of a world where all children, irrespective of their nationality, religion and ethnicity would live together as one people without fear or suspicion of one another.
Later, the Okyenhemaa ,Nana Adutwumwaa Dokua II ,on behalf of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area, donated a Kente cloth to Prime Minister Blair and the wife Mrs Blair.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2002 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday visited a cocoa farm on the second-day of his three-day official visit to Ghana at Nankese in the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar District of the Eastern Region.
The farm belongs to 96-year-old Opanin Ben Cudjoe, a member of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union (KKU), farmers' co-operative organisation established in 1993 to improve the living standards of cocoa farmers.
Prime Minister Blair witnessed the breaking of cocoa pods to release the beans and spent about 15 minutes to inspect the farm accompanied by President John Agyekum Kufuor.
For decades, cocoa has been the mainstay of Ghana's economy. Ghana has always been among the first three on the table of producers in the world. Cocoa production has been well above the 300,000-tonnes mark for several years after drought and bushfires in 1983 led to the plummeting of production to less than 200,000 tonnes.
Production for the 1996/97-crop year was 322,488 tonnes, rising to 409,382 tonnes in 1997/98. Production slipped to 397,675 tonnes in 1998/99, rose to 436,946 in
1999/2000 and then dipped to 389,800 tonnes in 2000/2001-crop year.
Mr K. Ohemeng-Tinyase, Managing Director of Kuapa Kokoo Limited, briefing Mr Blair, said Twin Limited a London-based NGO, which promotes trade relations between the North and South, assisted the company in its establishment with funds and technical support.
He said Comic Relief-London, another NGO, had also supported the company and had for the past seven years provided about 328,387 pounds sterling to the company.
Fair Trade Labelling Organisations, an organisation of friends of fair trade, had helped Kuapa Kokoo to sell its produce. Mr Ohemeng-Tinyase said in 1994, Comic Relief gave the company 36,180 pounds sterling through Twin Trading-London for the establishment of the KKU.
Prime Minister Blair said efforts should be made to make farm produce, especially cash crops in developing countries, have access to the markets for farmers to have value for their toil and improve their living standards.
Impressed about the relationship between Comic Relief and the company, he said many more people would be encouraged to donate to the organisation to enable it contribute to improving the standard of living of the people.
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Kyebi (Eastern Region) 09 February 2002 - The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo on Friday said the greatest challenge facing the country was how to transform primary products into finished goods towards wealth creation for the people.
He said this when the British Prime Minister Tony Blair paid a courtesy call on Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin at Ofori Panifie at Kyebi, as part of the Premier's three-days official visit to the country.
Nana Akuffo-Addo, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa called for collaboration between research institutions, the banks and private business enterprises to ensure the golden age of business that was promised by the government.
He said if the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), at New Tafo had the right environment and the needed support, it could have been able to support business programmes. Nana Akuffo-Addo cited the transformation of cocoa into industrial products, thereby boosting the rural economy and subsequently creating wealth for the people.
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