Government's foreign policy has paid off - Kufuor

Accra, Nov. 11, GNA-Government's foreign policy of good neighbourliness and economic diplomacy pursued within the past eight years has paid off, President John Agyekum Kufuor said in Accra on Tuesday.

Evidence of this, he said, could be seen from the nation's soaring international image and acknowledgement. The extension of substantial economic assistance from a number of countries including Japan, France, United States, Brazil, Italy, United Kingdom, China and India as well as the record four-time attendance of the summit of the club of the world's rich nations, Group of Eight (G-8) attested to this.

He said the gains made were unprecedented, citing the Japanese grant of 87 million dollars for construction of the Kasoa-Yamoransa road, the 547-million-dollar US development support under the MCA, Chinese concessionary credit of 500 million-dollars for the Bui hydro-electric dam, UK's 42 million pounds sterling assistance towards the free maternal care, building of the Golden Jubilee House and rural electrification through an Indian Government's soft loan of 60 million dollars with a 50 per cent grant element and the 30 million-dollar support from France for the National Identification Project. There is also the establishment of the Brazilian Research Centre, EMBRAPA's African Regional Office in Accra.

Added to that is the historic high profile state visit he paid to the UK, the first by a Ghanaian President, and visits to the US, Germany and the Netherlands among others. Addressing a meeting of Ghana's Ambassadors and High Commissioners at the M-Plaza Hotel in Accra, President Kufuor said as managers of the country's outposts through whom the foreign policy was implemented, they deserved credit.

The two-day meeting is providing a forum for the review of the Government's foreign policy.

It is the last time President Kufuor is interacting with them as he would be ending his tenure on January 7, 2009. His Administration on assumption of office targeted foreign policy as a major key for good neighbourliness and this, he said, helped to repair what used to be not so good relations between Ghana and its neighbours.

President Kufuor said this paid dividend, when Ghana was elected out of turn, to twice chair the sub-regional body, ECOWAS, and again the African Union (AU).

"The world is acknowledging us for helping to stabilise the situation in Liberia, Togo and Cote d'Ivoire," he said, adding that, as Chairman of the AU, it put together the Kofi Annan-led member Committee of Eminent Persons that restored normalcy to Kenya after its disputed elections.

He also recalled the pace set by the country with regard to the implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and said, "it is something we should all take pride of". President Kufuor counselled the Ambassadors and High Commissioners to continue to be loyal to the next Government.

He asked them to avoid being "self-serving," noting that, this was the only way they would remain assets to the country. Foreign Minister, Akwasi Osei-Adjei, announced that a Foreign Policy Institute to serve as think-tank to advise Governments on foreign policy is be constructed in Accra.

The four-storey building would house six language laboratories, 30 offices that would be opened to both civil and public servants and another 30 rooms, where diplomats from the sub-region could study diplomacy. India is providing the funding.