French Minister for development visits Ghana

Accra, Jan. 13 GNA - The French Minister for Cooperation, Development and Francophone, Madame Brigitte Girardin would visit Ghana on Tuesday, January 17, 2006.

The main purpose of her visit is to strengthen the ties between the two countries as well as sign agreement with the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on a partnership framework designed to layout the Ghana-French Cooperation Development for the next five years. A statement by the French Embassy in Accra on Friday said Madame Girardin would have an audience with President john Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu.

Madame Girardin, who holds a law degree from the University of Paris, was born in January 12, 1953 and is married with two children. She has served in various capacities in the French Foreign Ministry and other overseas departments from 1986 to 2005. The statement said Madame Girardin would also visit some key Ghanaian projects being finance by the French Government, including a drainage improvement project in Accra and meet beneficiaries of a French micro-credit project.

French contributions to the development of Ghana in 2005 was 69 million Euros, which was used to finance projects in three priority sectors, which included infrastructure, rural development and agronomic research, water and sanitation.

Other projects were the promotion of the French language, research, cultural diversity, rule of law and civil society. France participated in the multi-donor budgetary support, which supported the implementation of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy initiated by the Government of Ghana.