GHANA AND THE DENMARK SIGNED AGREED MINUTES
Hon Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and, His Excellency, Ambassador Carsten Nilaus Pedersen, under Secretary for Bilateral Development cooperation have signed agreed minutes on the future of Ghana-Denmark relationship.
The signing was an outcome of deliberations that took place on 12th of December, 2007 and it was witnessed by the Deputy Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs Hon. Christian Dugan and The Danish Ambassador to Ghana Mr. Flemming Bjork Pedersen.
Dr. Akoto Osei said the focus of this year’s high level consultations was on overall policy issues and five main areas looked at includes, progress towards poverty reduction, aid effectiveness including harmonization and alignment, regional issues, present and future bilateral development cooperation between the two countries, crosscutting issues such as empowerment of women and climate change.
"The overall objective of Danish development assistance is to contribute towards Ghana’s Poverty Reduction programme and reports available indicate a high level of cooperation between officials of the implementing MDAs and their Danish counterparts leading to a remarkable success rate in the area of implementation".
He said the discussions were highly fruitful and expressed government’s gratitude to the government and people of Denmark for their invaluable support to our nation’s development over the years.
He mentioned some programmes and projects funded with assistance form Denmark such as the rehabilitation of the Konongo-Kumasi road, construction of the commercial court, support to the Judicial Service, support to the Registrar General’s Department, the decentralization programme, independent governance institutions including Parliament, CHRAJ, and the Electoral Commission.
Other projects are the provision of water to a number of selected deprived communities in various parts of the country, support to School Sanitation and Health Education programme aimed at improving hygienic behaviour among school children and the youth in selected targeted areas.
Danish development assistance to Ghana dates as far back as 1957 when Ghana gained her independence from colonial rule. Between 1957 and the end of the 80’s however, this assistance comprised of social support channeled through NGO’s and the execution of projects funded by Danish Government, loans and grants tied to industrial purposes, water supply, and the supply of agricultural equipment, among others.
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