Vice-President returns home from Morocco

THE Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, arrived home on Tuesday night after leading government delegation to the fourth Global Forum on Reinventing Government at Marrakech, Morocco.

Alhaji Mahama was accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris and other officials of the ministry. Organised by the King and the Government of Morocco, in collaboration with the United Nations and the World Bank, the forum was attended by three vice-presidents, three prime ministers, 46 ministers of state, and more than 1,000 participants, heads of international development agencies, NGOs and universities from 120 countries.

It was on the theme, "Citizens, Businesses, and Governments: Dialogue and Partnerships for Democracy and Development."While in Morocco the Vice-President also held meetings with the Moroccan Prime Minister, Mr Driss Jettou, Tourism, Trade and Economic and Fisheries Ministers of Morocco and Qatar with the aim of attracting investment into Ghana.

He also addressed Ghanaian students studying in that country and also visited the Ghana Embassy in Rabat. He said the Moroccan Government has granted scholarships to 22 Ghanaian students to study medicine, computer engineering, languages, pharmacy, civil engineering, business administration and food processing and nutrition.

Alhaji Mahama advised the students to raise the flag of Ghana high by conducting themselves well and also to make judicious use of their time to enable the country to benefit from the scholarship scheme.He appealed to the Moroccan Government to increase the number so that more Ghanaians would benefit from the scholarship scheme.

The Vice-President presented a paper on behalf of the African continent at the closing ceremony.He stressed the need for the international community to create fair and just conditions to enable Africa to participate effectively in the global economy and politics.

He said increased investments by African governments and their development partners would help to address the challenges of revitalising and extending the provision of education, clean water, energy and health services, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other communicable diseases.

Alhaji Mahama blamed the inability of Africa to harness the process of globalisation on structural impediments to growth and development in the form of resource outflows and unfavourable terms of trade.