APA – Accra (Ghana)
The willingness of China to explore cooperation with Ghana to jointly address security challenges in the sub-region in line with its efforts to promote global peace is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that China is willing to explore cooperation with Ghana to jointly address security challenges in the sub-region in line with its efforts to promote global peace, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Lu Kun, has said.
Describing the two countries as “advocates and defenders of world peace,” he said, enhancing mutual exchanges and cooperation especially in the military field would be of positive significance to all.
He said this at a ceremony held at the Tema Port on Tuesday to welcome the 43rd Escort Task Group (ETG 162) of the Chinese People’s Navy to Ghana for a five- day friendly exchange as part of a mission to some selected countries.
At 8:15am, the troop made a grand entrance at the port aboard three ships, including the huge Guided-Missile-Destroyer-Nanning-162, which was flying the flags of China and Ghana at its peak while the crew, adorned in striking white uniforms, stood along the deck in a salute posture.
The beat of Chinese traditional drums echoed throughout the air, signalling the Chinese community members, who had eagerly awaited their arrival, to flock near the dock, waving Ghanaian and Chinese flags in unison and intermittently cheering the over 50 troops.
While in Ghana, the group led by their commander Senior Captain Zhao Lang would hold exchanges with their Ghana counterparts, comprising high level courses, joint exercise and donations.
The visit precedes the 63rd anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries which were established on July 5, 1960, while the offer for cooperation comes on the heels of insecurity in the sub region.
Mr Lu said the proposed cooperation with Ghana was in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Global Security Initiative that outlined the country’s commitment to world peace and its readiness to conduct bilateral and multilateral security cooperation with all countries
He said under the proposed initiative, China intended to support the efforts of African countries, the African Union and sub-regional organisations to resolve regional conflicts, fight terrorism and safeguard maritime security.
The newspaper says that the government has committed GH¢800 million towards the growth and development of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the country since 2017.
According to Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), more than 900,000 businesses have been supported within the period to grow and expand.
The support, she said, had been in the form of financial assistance, training and capacity-building and business advisory, among others.
This came to light yesterday during the celebration of this year’s World MSMEs Day in Accra.
Organised by the GEA, the event was on the theme “Building resilient and sustainable MSMEs to create one million jobs.”
Mrs Yankey-Ayeh said the supports were designed to equip MSMEs with the right tools that would put them on a trajectory of growth, and help them succeed in the long term.
The Agency, he noted, had embarked on a number of initiatives which was aimed at fostering an enabling environment for MSMEs to thrive.
She said, through its partnerships with institutions including the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and other regulatory bodies, the Agency had streamlined bureaucratic processes and reduced the constraints MSMEs face in mainstreaming and formalising their businesses.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the government will continue to pursue policies and programmes that have ensured that “things are getting better”.
The President said the attitude and commitment of the government in maintaining flagship policies, programmes and evolving new strategies in the face of the economic crisis that enabled it to secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme in record time would be the same in navigating the turbulence.
Those policies, the President added, had resulted in the economy growing by 4.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance when he addressed a large section of Muslim faithful during the celebration of Eid- ul-Adha at the Black Star Square in Accra on Wednesday.
In attendance were the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, ministers of state, the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Nuhu Sharubutu, the German Ambassador, Daniel Krull, and some Muslim clerics.
Eid-ul-Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice is the second and the largest of the two main religious festivals of Islam.
It honours the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice one of his sons, Ismail, as an act of obedience to God’s command.
The National Chief Imam and the Vice-President, together with some few dignitaries, slaughtered a cow to signify the essence of the ceremony, just as Allah offered Ibrahim a ram to be slaughtered instead of Isaka.
The newspaper says that President Akufo-Addo said in spite of the hardships precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the government was standing by its major policy commitments.
EVEN before government presents a formal proposal to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) on how it intends to restructure a US$1.4 billion debt, in a second round of domestic debt rationalisation, the group of six say any debt restructuring discussion “is off the table”.
Consequently, the IPPs have made a demand for the government to immediately pay 30 per cent of the debt, noting that failure to do so would mean they can’t guarantee power supplies beyond June 30, 2023.
This stand by the IPPs have sparked fears of an impending load shedding exercise, and also threaten government’s objectives of reforming the energy sector under the extended credit facility (ECF) programme with the nternational Monetary Fund (IMF).
Following the approval of Ghana’s IMF programme by the Executive Board in May, the Bretton Woods institution released the first tranche of US$600 million out of the US$3 billion to the country.
A key condition to trigger the additional US$600 million budgetary support which is due in September is for the government to institute measures to reform the Energy Sector, which is reeling under legacy debts totalling US$2 billion as of May 2023 and an estimated debt projection of US$5.9 billion between 2023 and 2025.
It is expected that the structural reforms in the energy sector should reduce the shortfall by at least US$2.95 billion over the period.
As part of the reforms, the government is seeking to also restructure its debt of about US$1.4 billion owed to six Independent Power Producers (IPPS) between January 2022 and March 2023.
The government is, however, faced with some challenges in this regard as the IPPs, who produce about 65 per cent of the country’s thermal power, have from the onset rejected any debt restructuring proposal.
GIK/APA
Press zooms in on plans by Ghana, China to address security challenges in sub-region
