Germany would fulfil promises - German Charge d'Affaires

Accra, Oct. 4, GNA - Germany would stand by the promises she made to Ghana in a recent bilateral negotiations on development cooperation, Mr Hans Christian Winkler, Charge d' Affaires at the German Embassy in Accra, said on Monday.

Mr Winkler, who was addressing a reception to mark the 20 years of German re-unification, said even in times of budget cuts elsewhere, Germany increased her budget support to Ghana recently by nearly 100 per cent.

He commended Ghana for her resolve to enter the oil age in the spirit of transparency and good governance and said Germany took good note of the appeal of the Ghanaian Government at the recent Consultative Group Meeting to stand at her side in this important time of change and will act accordingly.

Mr Winkler announced that the German Government has re-branded a number of its development cooperation institutions, including GTZ into a new organization - "German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) - and said this would bring about efficiency gains and streamline the delivery of the programmes.

He said Germany was committed to making the world more peaceful and pleasant, adding; "German policy is peace policy", stressing "we are facing numerous challenges that we in our globalized world can only tackle together. Disarmament, climate change, energy supply and demographic development are only a few of the major issues Europe and the world must address in the future".

The Leader of the Ghanaian Delegation on the Occasion and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Chris Kpodo said Ghana looked forward to the deepening of economic ties with Germany as the country prepared to commence the commercial production of oil with regard to German investment and technology in the Sector. He said; "The German Government committed 130 million Euros in technical and financial support for Ghana for the 2009-2011 fiscal years in the midst of severe global economic recession," adding, "Germany continues to provide direct budgetary support to Ghana within the framework of Multi-donor Budget Support, including additional 55 million Euros pledged in September 2009".

Ambassador Kpodo said the presence of German businesses in Ghana was indicative of German confidence in the Ghanaian economy and expressed the hope that more German investors would partner their Ghanaian counterparts in the service and manufacturing sectors. He said Ghana appreciated the German Government's assistance to the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in the training of Ghanaian and African military and civilian personnel in the area of peacekeeping and peace building.

The new German Ambassador-designate to Ghana, Mr Eberhard Schanze and his wife Zahra were present. Lufthansa German Airlines and Volkswagen, both German companies, supported the event. 4 Oct. 10