General News of Monday, 16 February 2004

Source: GNA

President Kufuor returns home from Rwanda

Accra, Feb. 16 GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor returned home of Monday from Kigali, Rwanda after attending the first African Peer Review Mechanism Forum and the ninth NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) meeting in Kigali, Rwanda over the weekend.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Dr Kofi Konadu Apreko, Minister for NEPAD and Regional Integration accompanied him.

Briefing newsmen at the airport, Dr Apreko said the 26 nations that attended the meeting agreed that they had made progress in the implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). He said President Kufuor called for a master plan in the methods of distributing resources as well as the funding of the NEPAD projects. Nana Akufo-Addo said President Kufuor's made a stop over in Nairobi, Kenya where he held bilateral discussions with his counterpart, President Mwai Kibaki on how to strengthen economic and political ties between the two countries.

Nana Akufo-Addo said Kenya had handed over power from one government to another peacefully and that there were many things both countries could learn from each other to consolidate their democracies. He said as a result of the visit, the Kenyan Foreign Minister would soon visit Ghana to assess the progress made by Ghana on the political and economic fronts.

At the Airport to meet the President Kufuor were Vice President Ahhaji Aliu Mahama, Ministers of State, Inspector General of Police, Nana Owusu Nsiah and the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Seth Obeng.