President Rawlings lauds Japanese support

Accra (Greater Accra), 1st June 99 ?

Ghana and Japan on Monday held bilateral discussions which centred on the relationship between the two countries, at the end of which the Japanese committed 16.5 million dollars to support Ghana's structural reforms and social development.

The money, an aid from the Japanese Sector Programme Grant, will be used by Ghana to import essential development needs, including machinery, equipment, spare parts and industrial raw materials.

The signing of the agreement formed part of a three-day official visit by Mr Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Japanese Prime Minister, to the country.

President Jerry John Rawlings, recounting Japanese assistance to Ghana, said Japan has been a strong and important ally since Ghana started its journey of economic transformation.

As one of the highest donors to Ghana, President Rawlings said Japan has demonstrated its confidence in the country's new development process especially in the area of education, health, energy, transportation and other social infrastructure.

"We express our gratitude to your government and all that it has done and continue to do to improve and deepen our reforms," President Rawlings told the visiting delegation.

President Rawlings was particularly impressed with Mr Hashimoto's "new initiative" which, he said, is designed to deal with the eradication and control of parasitic diseases.

"We, on our part, will do everything within our limits to complement and sustain this initiative to improve on health delivery in our country," President Rawlings said.

Mr Hashimoto said the extension of the grant to Ghana is in recognition of the country's "unrelenting effort at implementing sector-wide development programmes in line with Japan's new development strategy."

He said the grant is a new scheme for balance of payment support to developing countries that are making "relentless efforts at structural adjustment of their economies and tackling social development and environmental issues with comprehensive sector wide approaches.

"Ghana has made remarkable strides in improving her macro-economic environment," said Mr Hashimoto, also Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister of Japan.

Mr Victor Gbeho, Minister of Foreign Affairs, described the relationship between the two countries as important and beneficial.

"It is important to us because when in the heat of our revolution the support from the international community waned, Japan showed much interest in Ghana and supported us".

He mentioned the Noguchi Memorial Institute, a medical research centre at Legon, as one of the many examples of Japanese assistance to Ghana, saying the centre has become a vital research medical institution not only for Ghana but the whole of the West Africa sub-region.

While in the country, Mr Hashimoto will commission a number of Japanese-funded projects including the Sekondi Fishing Harbour.