Internet's governing body to meet in Accra
Accra (Greater Accra) 03 January 2002 - The new European currency, the euro, introduced to the market on Tuesday, made a slow start in Ghana on Tuesday as commercial banks said they were yet to have the new currency.
A number of commercial banks in the metropolis, which spoke to the Ghana News Agency said no one had made any payment or demanded euros. They, however, expressed the hope that in the next couple of days the Central Bank would make some available for the public.
A source at Standard Chartered Bank, Accra said: "It has been a normal day. Nobody has come with any euros and we have not paid out any. In fact, we don't have Euros.
"If a customer receives a transfer in euro we will pay out British pounds or US dollars until we have euros." The source said like all other commercial banks Stanchart had ceased collecting currencies of countries that form the Euro Zone.
Mr Kwesi Fosu Gyabaah, President of the Association of Forex Bureaux confirmed that the commercial banks had stopped collecting the old currencies. He said they stopped buying the old notes last Monday, December 31.
"The Central Bank has, however, assured us that they will collect them and change them between now and January 15, 2002." Mr Gyabaah said they have the rate of the euro quoted on their boards, "but we do not have any yet".
"We hope that the Central Bank will come out quickly on the issue and what steps to take in the interim, he said.” He expressed fears that crooks might take advantage of the void and push through fake euros.
"This is real as we have not seen any Euro notes or know how they even look like, except the few specimens provided by the Central Bank."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 03 January 2002 - The government on Tuesday stressed its commitment to stabilising the economy and ensuring that sustainable growth permeates all sectors of development.
According to a GNA report, Finance Minister Yaw Osafo- Maafo, in a brief outlook for 2002, said: "We intend to consolidate the gains made so far, that is the stability of the cedi, reduce inflation and interest rates and make the nation the preferred investment destination.
"We will also sustain the reduction of government expenditure and participation in a number of companies, such as Coca Cola, Ghana Telecom and Ghana Commercial Bank."
He said the strides made last year were after very hard thought-out procedures, despite their immediate impact on society, adding, "the ultimate is to get the country onto a better pedestal."
He referred to the adoption of the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative, saying: " The benefits under the HIPC initiative will be more pronounced this year than before and I am sure that weak and vulnerable sectors of society will improve''.
Mr Osafo-Maafo said the government's main focus would be to lift the image and performance of the agricultural sector since food formed a large part of the national budget.
"Another area will be to develop the agro-processing industry as a means of generating employment for the nation's youth." Food production experts say the millions of dollars spent on food imports each year could be reduced considerably if Ghana's potential in food production could be fully exploited.
Rice import, for instance, is put around 100 million dollars, the single highest bill in the sector. The Minister mentioned education and health as the other important areas that would be tackled vigorously.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 03 January 2002 - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is the Internet's governing body, will hold a five-day meeting in Accra in March that will focus on Sub-Sahara Africa.
Between 400 and 500 delegates from across the globe will attend the meeting from March 10-14, which will be its first for the year.
A statement from Network Computer System (NCS) said one of the main aims of the meeting was to reach out to sub-Saharan stakeholders of the Internet.
It will also educate the ICANN community about sub-Sahara Africa, its problems, advantages and concerns as well as setting the stage for funding technology development.
Participants will include the ICANN board, staff and ICANN constituencies as well as representatives of governmental organisations and the general public, according to the statement signed by Nana Ofosua Quaynor of NCS. The Accra meeting will be the second by ICANN after the first held in Cairo, Egypt, two years ago.
The conference will enable African operators to join the self-organised technical policy development process. In addition, global communities would be able to participate virtually through the Internet and contribute and seek opportunities to bridge the digital divide.
The statement said ICANN meetings were global policy development, technical coordination and administration of the Internet.
These meetings are held quarterly in different geographical regions. NCS, the main organiser of the meeting, won the bid to host the meeting against a competing bid from South Africa.
NSC is organising the meeting in collaboration with Valley View University and other Ghanaian universities, research institutions and NSRC of the US.
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