APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that the longstanding and historically significant bilateral ties between Ghana and Canada are poised for a revitalized chapter as agri-tourism takes centre stage is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphiic reports that the longstanding and historically significant bilateral ties between Ghana and Canada are poised for a revitalized chapter as agri-tourism takes centre stage, serving as the focal point and catalyst for this deepened connection between the two countries.
Facilitated by Ghanaian-owned Travel and Tour company, Voazok Tours, the evolving landscape of Ghana-Canada relations witnessed the participation of Canadian and Ghanaian agro-investors, commercial-scale farmers, and agriculture enthusiasts to share agricultural ideas and ways to improve agriculture as a business. They embarked on a journey to explore prominent farms and plantations in Ghana, coupled with visits to some of the nation’s most renowned tourism destinations.
The pilot Ghana Ag Tour occurred from November 13 -27, 2023, with a team of two Canadian producers, two Ghanaian farmers, and two officials from Voazok Tours traversing the country to abreast themselves with Ghana’s agriculture landscape and enjoying some relaxing and informative moments at some of the country’s most popular tourist sites.
The 14-day event saw the Canadian grain producers, Keith Fournier and Elaine Knowlson, hold important engagements with Ghanaian farmers, agriculture organizations, and other key stakeholders in the agriculture fraternity.
Following the arrival of Keith Fournier and Elaine Knowlson on November 13 at the Kotoka International Airport, the tour kicked off on November 14 with Derrick Owusu-Kodua, CEO of Voazok Tours, and Benjamin Nyarko, Agritourism Manager leading them to visit the newly-refurbished Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and the Black Stars Square, which holds a significant place in Ghana’s history.
The newspaper says that the stock market continues to make an impressive run this year, with the GSE Composite Index recording an increase of 44.28 points in November.
This brings the year-to-date return to 29.71 per cent.
After a difficult 2022 which saw volumes and value of trades on the local bourse dip significantly, resulting in the composite index ending 2022 with a loss of 12.38 per cent, the market has bounced back in 2023, recording impressive performances in the first 11 months of the year.
The Financial Stock Index on the other hand, also gained 17.52 points during the month, reducing the year-to-date loss to 2.71 per cent. This is after it recorded a loss of 4.61 per cent in 2022.
Both volume and value traded also increased by 1,009.7% and 807.7% respectively, compared to the previous month.
The top price gainers for the month were EGH (18.64%), GLD (2.58%), MTNGH (2.19%), CAL (2%), and FML (0.33%).
The Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) also saw trading volumes increase in November, reaching 12.78 billion, which is a reflection of a 32.16% increase compared to the volumes of the previous month.
Long-term Government securities transactions constituted 50.33% of market activity, marking a further rise from the 41.43% recorded in the preceding month.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the government is ready to consider a request by the leadership of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to offer automatic post-retire¬ment contracts to fellows who attained the mandatory retirement age, to enable them to continue to train medical specialists for the country.
He has, therefore, directed the leader¬ship to liaise with the Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu and the Ghana Health Service to submit a comprehensive policy document on post-retirement con¬tracts for medical fellows who attained re¬tirement age for consideration and approval.
“During our meeting, you requested that fellows who attained the mandatory retire¬ment age be given automatic post retirement contracts so that they can continue to train specialists in your training centre. Govern¬ment is willing to do this to facilitate post¬graduate medical training,” he stressed.
President Akufo-Addo disclosed this when he graced the maiden awards night of the college held in Accra on Tuesday.
The event climaxed the 20th anniversary of the college which was established in 2003 as part of measures to train post graduate medical officers and specialists for the coun¬try’s healthcare system.
He said the policy document must not only spell out the details of these post- re¬tirement contract, but must include a mecha¬nism to prevent the abuse of the initiative.
President Akufo-Addo said he was committed to his vision of making Ghana the “Centre of excellence for medical care in West Africa by 2030” by leveraging the country’s favourable status as the most peaceful country in West Africa, a beacon of democracy on the continent and a land of opportunities.
The newspaper says that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, yesterday launched the GCB Bank Mo¬bile App with a call on banks to invest and improve on their cyber security infrastructure to enhance resilience against cyber-attacks.
He said the advent of digital technologies was the presence of cyber and information technology breaches which if not adequate¬ly managed would outweigh all the benefits that technological advancement presented to the banking industry.
Dr Addison who launched the application and delivered the keynote address said cyber risks including cyber-attacks and data breaches were prevalent.
He said people who used digi¬tal products were also increasingly wary of scammers.
He said Artificial Intelligence and machine learning could be used by security analyst in the banking sector to detect and analyse high risk incidence and in¬vestigate threats and search for se¬curity flaws and deploy solutions to cyber breaches in real time.
He encouraged banks to promote the use of advanced analytics and machine learning to identify and prevent fraudulent activities to protect the banking industry.
“Most importantly financial education and awareness are crucial in protecting banks and customers from cyber-attacks,” Dr Addison stated.
He said in spite of the successes chalked, the banking sector had gaps to address in terms of access to savings, credit and investment.
That, he said presented oppor¬tunity for all banks to rise to the challenge and provide innovative solutions to those challenges.
Dr Addison said with a tech¬nologically savvy youth, the future of the digitally enabled financial inclusion looked promising but it must start with solutions tailored to the needs of the youth.
“ I believe the GCB Mobile App being launched today will address some of this challenges and do hope this initiative of GCB Bank will serve as a catalyst for more focused innovative solutions to help build a more inclusive and sustainable and resilient economy,” he stated.
GIK/APA
Ghana: Press zooms in on revitalising bilateral ties between Ghana, Canada, others
