Kufuor Appeals for Dutch aid

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday appealed to the Netherlands to support his government's efforts at solving the country's economic problems.

"As a young government, we are bound to take some tough measures to revive our ailing economy and we will expect old friends such as the Netherlands to remain behind us," President Kufuor said when Mr Alexander Heldring, Netherlands Ambassador, paid a courtesy call on him at the State House.

Mr Kufuor said government has had to take some bold economic policies, including the adoption of Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC0) initiative and fuel price hikes as the only options necessary for future progress.

"We want to put the economy at (the level) that will boost the private sector," he said.

On relations between Ghana and the Netherlands, which dates back some 300 years, President Kufuor said the two countries should take advantage of the long relationship to build on socio-economic co-operation.

The Dutch government is liaising with Ghanaian officials to work out a programme for the celebration of the tercentenary which, it said, will focus on successful and sustainable projects the Netherlands carried out in Ghana.

President Kufuor said his government deems the celebration celebrations important "as a reminder of what the situation was at those times and how far we have come."

Mr Heldring announced that a large delegation of Dutch businessmen, led by the Minister of Trade would visit Ghana between May and June as part of renewed efforts to close ties between the two countries.

He said his country is looking out for new areas of co-operation with Ghana.

Currently it is mainly centred on health and environmental sectors.

Netherlands is among the first group of development partners to announce assistance to the new government by providing 61 million dollars to support Ghana's balance of payment soon after its inauguration in January.

Mr Heldring lauded government's bold decision to take the HIPC initiative and said his country is working out more development assistance to Ghana.

Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed gratitude to the Dutch for having faith in Ghana and standing by her even in difficulties, citing the Royal Dutch Airline, KLM, which, he said, boosted confidence in the business community.