Chamber
of Commerce signs trade pact
VRA says power outage was due to technical problem
Cape Coast
(Central Region) 23 May 2003 - The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs
would disburse 50 billion cedis to women's groups to undertake
income-generating projects.
The figure
is nearly 90 percent increase over 27 billion cedis disbursed under the Women's
Development Fund last year. Mr David Aidoo, Co-ordinator of the Fund at the
ministry, said this at a one-day capacity building workshop for women who
benefited from the fund last year.
It was
aimed at encouraging them to help develop positive business attitude.
Participants were taken through topics including loan management, record
keeping and customer care.
Mr Aidoo
said the ministry would this year, distribute 200 cassava-processing machines
together with a seed amount of five billion cedis.
He said an
export market had been found in Sierra-Leone, Gambia, Liberia and Togo for
gari, adding that shea nuts and groundnut-processing machines would also be
given out to women groups in the three northern regions to produce shea butter
and groundnut paste.
He was
happy that some women groups had finished paying back their loans and have been
recommended for further assistance and urged those who have not to do so
promptly. Mr Aidoo also appealed to banks to be women friendly to encourage
more women particularly traders to patronise their banks to avoid keeping
monies in their stores and homes.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 23 May 2003
Currency Buying (Cedis)
Selling (Cedis)
U.S. Dollar 8,553.00 8,735.18
Pound
Sterling 13,968.76 14,272.41
Swiss
Franc 6,588.42 6,727.19
Canadian
Dollar 6,293.37 6,426.41
Danish Kroner 1,341.65 1,370.11
Japanese
Yen 72.66 74.20
South
African Rand 1,094.78 1,113.82
Euro 9,961.32 10,174.23
CFA Franc
15.19 15.51
Naira 67.84 69.28
ECOWAS
WAUA 11,791.76
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Tamale
(Northern Region) 23 May 2003 - Operators in the energy sector and other bodies
in the Tamale Municipality, on Wednesday met at Tamale to brainstorm on
modalities to extend the petroleum pipeline from Buipe to Bolgatanga in the
Upper East Region.
The one-day
meeting provided stakeholders the opportunity to share views in respect of the
project to ensure its smooth take-off and successful implementation.
When
completed, the pipeline would facilitate bulk transportation of fuel from Buipe
in the Northern Region to Bolgatanga to ensure reliable fuel supply to the
northern sector.
The
pipeline will cover a distance of 275 kilometres and is expected to take 26
months to complete. South Korea is to provide funds for the project and the
Bulk Oil Transportation and Storage Company Limited (BOST) would co-ordinate.
Mr Ernest
Debrah, the Northern Regional Minister, said the most important aspect of
petroleum management was its distribution and that the project, if completed,
would relieve the Northern sector of perennial fuel shortages.
He said the
current mode of transporting petroleum products from Buipe to Bolgatanga was
associated with problems. He advised BOST to carefully consider the destruction
of property and compensate those whose property would be affected.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 23 May 2003 - The Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI)
and the South Korean International Trade Association (KITA) on Thursday signed
a trade pact to formalise and improve trade co-operation between the two
bodies.
GCCI and KITA
under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in Accra would also exchange
personnel and expertise programmes to cement relations between them.
Sal Doe
Amegavie, Chief Executive of the GCCI and Bell Park of KITA signed the MOU.
Ghana exports mainly non-traditional products such as cow horns and wood
products to South Korea while they in turn export automobile and construction
equipment.
Amegavie
said trade between the two countries had not been organised around the business
associations and, therefore, the signing of the agreement was to formalise such
activities.
He noted
that there was imbalance in trade between the two countries tilting in favour
of South Korea. Amegavie said the Chamber intended to take advantage of the new
relations to increase exports by adding value to most of the products.
Ghanaians
could learn a lot from their counterparts through information networking, he
said. Park said the Korean Association was enthusiastic to share their
experience with GCCI through the exchange of staff and the participation in
trade shows.
He said the
Association had scheduled a series of fairs for this year in information
technology, jewellery, marine and shipping. He expressed the hope that members
of the Chamber would participate and said the Korean Association would send a
trade delegation to Ghana next year to explore opportunities for investment.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 May 2003 - President John Kufuor on Thursday said government would encourage partnership between foreign investors and Ghanaians to promote the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
He said Ghana had a great competitive advantage with its location of being very close to the European and US markets and the 250 million people in the West Africa Sub-Region.
President Kufuor said this when John Sporidis, Chief Executive Officer of SunQuest International in the US and Ms Rose M. Whitaker, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Whitaker Group paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu.
Sporidis, who has 50 years experience in the textile industry in the US and has been involved in the AGOA operations for the past three years, lauded the ingenuity and capability of Ghanaians in the textile industry.
He has, therefore, placed an order for the production of 100,000 pairs of trousers a month at a cost of $450,000 by AGRI Dot Com, a company established under the President's Special Initiative (PSI) under Garments and Textiles for export.
The contract estimated at about five million dollars a year would be increased to about $10m next year. Sporidis said in addition, about $8m would be invested this year in Gold Coast Collection, a textile training company, under the PSI to train people to manufacture "Boxer Shorts" for export.
He said under AGOA, he had operations in eight African countries mostly in South and East Africa, adding that Ghana was the first country in West Africa where their operations had begun.
Sporidis said AGOA was a commitment to assist and develop Africa and bring African standards to the world market and not a situation where, products manufactured outside Africa were always imported into Africa. "Africa has a lot of future in AGOA with Africans willing to move forward."
Ms Whitaker said SunQuest International, is a leading US textile manufacturing firm and the first to produce FUBU (For Us By Us) now an international name. It has created about 12,000 jobs in eight African countries under AGOA and its investment in Ghana would help deepen the relationship between Ghana and the US.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 May 2003 - The Volta River Authority (VRA) on Thursday said the power outage experienced nationwide on Wednesday was due to "an emergency situation" in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.
Mrs Ellen Essilfie, Public Affairs Director of VRA, told the GNA in Accra that the 45-minute power outage had nothing to do with the impasse between the workers and Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, Chief Executive of VRA.
The power outage experienced from 1646 hours affected Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo and Benin. The workers had demanded the removal of Dr Wereko-Brobby by 16 May for alleged mismanagement of the affairs of the Authority.
He stepped aside on Wednesday saying he wanted to give a free hand to a committee set up by Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Energy, to investigate the allegations made against him and the Board. Mrs Essilfie said two concurrent occurrences on the Ivorian line and at the Tema Sub-Station caused the outage.
She said the VRA observed a disturbance on the Ivorian line, which resulted in a trip of the lines from that country. The Public Affairs Director said the Authority suspected that the trip of the lines might have triggered the problem at the Tema Sub-Station.
Mrs Essilfie said the problem was purely technical and nobody had a hand in it. The actual cause of the outage at both sources was, however, being investigated, she said. VRA has for several weeks now been in the midst of an industrial dispute involving the workers and the Chief Executive.
Earlier in May the workers at Akosombo demanded the removal of the Chief Executive and gave the government an ultimatum. When the GNA visited the Head Office of the Authority on Wednesday, some of the workers in red armbands were dancing at the premises but emphasised that they were not on strike. There were similar scenes at the VRA's offices outside Accra.
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ECA Boss begins visit to Ghana
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 May 2003 - Dr K. Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), on Thursday began a three-day official visit to Ghana during which he would meet President John Agyekum Kufuor and Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo.
Amoako's discussions during the visit would focus on the urgent actions that needed to be taken by Africa and its international partners for the continent to effectively overcome its development challenges, a statement from the ECA said on Thursday.
The statement said Amoako's dialogue with the Government would be on how to strengthen mutual accountability and policy coherence in order to improve development effectiveness. He would share ECA's perspective on Ghana's present economic trends.
He would also participate in the Second Development Dialogue series in Accra on 23 May. The one-day forum co-sponsored by the World Bank and leading Ghanaian think tanks aims to promote vibrant discourse on development policy issues.
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