E Fredric Clavier and Hon. Julius Debrah in a group picture with the other participants of the meeting
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Julius Debrah on Thursday February 20, 2014 paid a working visit to the Ambassador of France, H.E. Frédéric Clavier at the French Embassy in Accra.
The meeting was held to discuss on-going projects being financed by French government in the Greater Accra Region and also to find possible ways of creating jobs for the people within the region.
The meeting also discussed possible cooperation in the future between the Embassy and the Region including public-private partnership by promoting the Greater Accra Region to French investors as well as collaborations in supporting microfinance institutions.
France, in recent past has supported microfinance institutions such as Advans Ghana and Initiatives and Development (ID) Ghana, a microfinance institution subsidiary of the French NGO Entrepreneurs du Monde.
Providing an opportunity for the Greater Accra Region to benefit from the experience and expertise of French companies in the waste management and urban water sectors as well as strengthening of technical and institutional capacities of central and local administrations (MDA) were also discussed as possible future cooperation.
The French government through the French Development Agency (AFD has in the recent past financed several urban projects in attempts to contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana.
One of such projects undertaken by the AFD in the region is the Urban and Environmental Sanitation Project which ended in 2012. The project was executed at the cost of €25 million and was co-financed by the World Bank.
The AFD together with the African Development Bank is currently funding the on-going Awoshie-Pokuase road, the Urban Development projects and the Urban Transport Projects in Accra and Kumasi (UTP),providing a grant of 50 million for the successful execution of the projects.
By Prince Asare, Diplomatic Call
