Waiver of duties on equipment for CAN 2008

Accra, May 30, GNA 96 Government has given approval for the waiver of duties to enable participating teams and other stakeholders to bring relevant equipment and materials into the country for the hosting of the CAN 2008 African football tournament.

Approval has also been granted for the establishment of a special immigration desk at the airport to handle the arrivals and departure of the teams, officials of CAF, FIFA and other tournament stakeholders who would come to Ghana.

Papa Owusu Ankomah, Minister of Education, Science and Sports said this on Tuesday when the CAF Inspection led by Mr Slim Aloulou paid a courtesy on him during their third visit to the country to inspect facilities towards hosting of the tournament.

The Minister said government=92s action was in keeping with its decision to firmly support the organisation and hosting of the tournament in the country.

Papa Ankomah told the Team that he had critically studied the report of the CAN 2008 LOC delegation that went to Egypt for the CAN 2006 and found it very useful.

He promised that he would ensure that the recommendations of the Report was fully implemented for the success of the competition. He however cautioned that the utmost effort need to be made to prevent any abuse of any measure, since every it is the determination of government to ensure a successful tournament.

Mr Suleiman Habuba, Director of Communications and Public Relations of CAF and member of the Inspection team praised Ghana for sending a strong delegation to Egypt fpr the purpose of under-studying the then on-going CAN 2006 tournament.

He described Ghana=92s effort as very mature and an indication of the seriousness attached by Ghana=92s LOC to the hosting of the tournament.

Mr Habuba said it was the first time that a host-in waiting for a tournament had taken such an initiative to ensure that their turn was flawless.