The energy crisis which has bedeviled the country for sometime now is to be solved with the assistance of the Brazilian government. This follows a bilateral meeting in Ghana yesterday between President J. A. Kufuor and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Lula da Silva, on the matter. The two leaders are here to participate in the first Africa-South America Summit.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Presidential Press Secretary, Andrew Awuni, said President da Silva has agreed to provide Ghana with a thermal plant to augment the power generated by the Akosombo Dam to meet the national demand as soon as possible.
It was not immediately known how many megawatts of electricity the plant could generate, but President Lula, according to Mr Awuni promised to call his Energy Minister on telephone even before he gets back to fly down to Ghana and meet his Ghanaian counterpart to discuss the modalities for the installation of the plant.
Mr Awuni said the two leaders also discussed the need to co-operate in the provision of bio-diesel and other vehicular oils, an area which Brazil is so self-sufficient. He said President da Silva promised to come to Ghana for the commissioning of an office for EMBRAPA, a Brazilian agricultural research institute which will serve the whole of the sub-region.
On the Africa-South America Summit, he quoted President da Silva as saying that it was a summit of discovery as it will offer the peoples of the two continents the opportunity to know more about each other. “It will enable us to be united, deepen our relationships and it is good that Ghana which is a focal point in Africa is participating,” he quoted President da Silva as saying.
Mr. Awuni said President Kufuor expressed gratitude to the Brazilian President for the gesture and described him as a genuine leader who does everything with sincerity. Present at the meeting were the Foreign Minister, Nana Akufo-Addo, Ambassador D. K. Osei and Press Secretary, Andrew Awuni. Among the African Presidents who have arrived for the summit are Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Blaise Campoare of Burkina Faso, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and Faure Gnassingbe of Togo.
Leaders of Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia are also in attendance.
