Ghana-German gov’t consultations underway in Accra

Consultations between the Governments of Germany and Ghana are ongoing in Accra at the Ministry of Finance on February 3rd and February 4th 2015.

According to a news release from the German Embassy in Accra copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), discussions will centre on the focal areas and adequate instruments for bilateral cooperation for the next three years (2015 - 2017).

The delegations on the two sides are headed by Mr Seth E. Terkper, the Minister of Finance for Ghana, and Renate von Boddien, Head of Division for West Africa II, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, from the German side.

“The three focal areas of cooperation to be discussed are economic development, decentralisation and agriculture, in addition to budget support, good financial governance and renewable energy”, the release stated.

It said the consultations served the purpose to discuss future cooperation and possible new priorities, adding that the final intergovernmental negotiations were scheduled for summer 2015 in Germany.

Since 1961, Germany has contributed €1.37 billion to support social and economic development in Ghana, in addition to debt relief.

The commitments for 2012-2014 were €157.7 million derived from German tax payers.

The main areas of cooperation from 2012-2014 included economic development; decentralization; agriculture; budget support and good financial governance. Others were renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate change.