Ghana -Netherlands relations have improved

The Hague (Netherlands) -- Ghana has been selected to receive concentrated bilateral aid from the Netherlands because it had fulfilled the criteria of good governance, sound macro-economic and social policies and poverty level.

The Director-General of Regional and Consular Policy of the Dutch Foreign Ministry, Mr P. P. van Wulften Palthe told the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll at a meeting in The Hague on Tuesday. The Asantehene is on a royal visit to the Netherlands.

Mr van Wulften Palthe said The Netherlands was involved in supporting the health and environmental sectors in the country adding that Dutch structural bilateral support for Ghana had increased from around five million Euros in 1999 to 33 million Euros in 2002.

This was in addition to Balance of Payments support of 80 million Euros provided Ghana to compensate for the economic downturn as a result of worsened commodity prices and the hike in that of oil in 2001. "This is a sign of our government's commitment to the development of Ghana", the Foreign Ministry official said.

On future collaboration, Mr van Wulften Palthe said Holland was looking forward to Ghana's finalisation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy to enable the Dutch Government to give bilateral support to Ghana' priority areas.

He praised the local Ghanaian community as hard-working and friendly and saying, "Ghana has very good ambassadors in its community in Holland'. Otumfuo Osei Tutu expressed satisfaction with the warm relations between Ghanaians and the Dutch and expressed the hope that Holland would continue to address some of the concerns of the Ghanaians when they came up.

After the briefing session, Otumfuo was given the opportunity to address a meeting of all Dutch non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in Ghana. He thanked them for the support they were giving to various communities in Ghana and said that such forms of assistance went a long way to supplement government efforts.

The Asantehene asked them to support the World Bank's new initiatives to build partnerships between governments and traditional leaders. He elaborated his own vision for the new role of chiefs in nation-building and invited NGOs to expand their areas of operation in Ghana in general and Asanteman in particular.

Most of the 16 NGOs represented at the round-table expressed interest in Otumfuo's projects in capacity building, health, education, and environment. Otumfuo Osei Tutu later in the afternoon was the Keynote Speaker at the Business Forum of the Netherlands African Business Council (NABC).

Speaking on the theme: "Doing Business In Ghana", Otumfuo elaborated on the operations of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), the various benefits and guarantees available to investors and advised that in order to avoid some of the frustrations encountered by investors they should learn more about Ghana and also about their own partners.

"We should learn to remove obstacles before we advance in any ventures", he told the Dutch business community. Later in the afternoon, Otumfuo and his wife Lady Julia were given an hour and a half private audience at the Palais Huis Ten Bosch with her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands. Otumfuo's official visit has received considerable press coverage in the Netherlands.