Accra, Feb. 4, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday said the 2004 election conducted in a free, fair and peaceful manner has enhanced Ghana's stability, image and added to the maturity of her fledging democratic culture.
He said the government would stay resolved in its effort to improve the quality of governance, accountability, respect for human rights and the rule of law would continue to underpin the government's political, economic and social agenda.
President Kufuor was speaking at a reception hosted by the government for the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana at the Castle, Osu. He pledged the government's commitment to promote the concept of Ghana Incorporated to bring on board stakeholders in the public and private sector as well as civil society.
President Kufuor said the Ghana Incorporated would defy ethnic, religious, political and gender barriers to embrace the entire society to push Ghana's development agenda forward.
"This way, the nation can ensure a fair and equitable distribution of the national wealth, reduce the level of poverty and promote meaningful partnerships within our society to accelerate the growth of our economy," he added.
President Kufuor expressed appreciation to the governments and international organisations whose contributions had made Ghana's modest achievements possible.
"I seize this opportunity to assure you, your governments and organisations that during this second term of my administration, Ghana will sustain her effort to engender economic development in West Africa in particular and Africa as a whole".
"This implies absolute commitment to the economic agenda for the ECOWAS and to the various developmental programmes of the African Union (AU). Ghana will also remain faithful to the United Nations (UN) the Commonwealth and the continued search for global peace", he said.
Mr Ibrahim Khalil Omar, Palestinian Ambassador in Ghana and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps said the outlook for this year was promising and was hopeful that with the necessary goodwill and the collective effort of the international community, the prospects for a just peace in all conflict areas especially in Africa and the Middle East would receive renewed vigour.
He said Ghana's giant strides towards lasting peace and democracy would be greatly enhanced by the government's endeavour to reconcile the people and to unite them in their fight against under-development and poverty.
Mr Omar said with the successful elections, Ghanaians demonstrated to the world that they placed a high premium on the nurturing of democratic institutions.
"By doing so Ghanaians have shown that Ghana will continue to be an oasis of stability in the West African Sub-Region and an example of democratic culture worth of emulation," he added.
