President J.A. Kufuor on his way to the CHOGM conference in Australia, has stopped for two days in Singapore.
Singapore has the fifth highest per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world and the second highest in Asia after Japan.
Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Ghana's Foreign Minister, who briefed newsmen after two separate bilateral talks President Kufuor had with Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore and Mr Yew who is now a Senior Minister of Singapore said the talks centred on a wide range of issues of mutual concern to both countries, including the exchange of views on globalisation, good governance, elimination of terrorism world-wide and the way forward for the Commonwealth to achieve its objectives.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said Ghana's role at both the sub-regional and continental level to lead in the socio-economic development of most African countries was discussed as well as the New Partnership for Development in Africa (NEPAD) inititative.
He said the main objective of President Kufuor's visit to Singapore was to know at first hand the basis of its economic success and how the country without any natural resources had managed to reach such a high level of development.
He said Ghana's delegation was not in Singapore to solicit for aid but to exchange ideas on technological know-how since Singapore has the best tax reforms for revenue generation and port administration.
"Their success story was one of discipline and commitment by the people coupled with the vision of its leader to ensure the country was united," he said.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang pointed out that there was so much discipline in Singapore that it has eliminated corruption from the country and also the rate of HIV/AIDS infection is minimal when considered in relation to its population of 4.3 million people.
He praised the people for their commitment and said their leader Mr Yew had assured that Singapore was a stable country for investors.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said it was not too late for Ghana to become a prosperous nation with its abundant human, material and natural resources if it takes a cue from Singapore, where every citizen owns a flat.
"With the performance of the government and the support of all Ghanaians, there would be immense transformation in the country after the NPP government's tenure of office," he said.
Potential areas for co-operation between Ghana and Singapore are trade, manufacturing and finance.
Some of the specific areas identified for possible investments in Ghana are the cocoa industry mostly packaging and marketing of cocoa products. Others are agro-based industries, integrated aluminium industry, forest products, tourism and port management and export processing zone.
Trade relations between Ghana and Singapore over the years have generally favoured Singapore. The main exports from Ghana include cocoa products, coffee, mineral products such as gold; fruits and fruits juices.
Singapore exports mainly machinery and equipment including electronics, chemicals and mineral fuels.
Available data indicates that the net volume of trade between the two countries, portrays a direct opposite relationship. Whereas Ghana's meagre exports to Singapore continue to dwindle yearly, her corresponding imports keep on rising. In 1996, Ghana's exports which stood at $5.58 million nose-dived to a low level of $1.69 million in 2000 resulting in a fall of more than 300 per cent.
Conversely, Ghana's imports from Singapore maintained an upward trend from $12.84 million in 1996 to $27.53 million in 2000 an increase of over 110 per cent.
Between September 1994 and September 2001, Singapore had established only five projects in Ghana, three of them are fully Singaporean owned and the remaining two are joint ventures. Total outlay for the projects are $498,000, $409,000 being in foreign equity, $25,000 in foreign loan and $64,000 in local equity.
Singapore has made it known that due to constraints of limited financial and human resources she would be unable to provide direct financial aid to Ghana. She is nonetheless ready to co-operate with Ghana within her available means.
