Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has commended the Indian government for its immense support to Ghana in the areas of agriculture and industry, especially in the small and medium scale enterprises.
“We are indeed very grateful to the Indian Government for helping us to revamp the Komenda Sugar Factory which will go a long way to provide employment for the masses of the people as well as reduce considerably the country’s huge bill on sugar imports,” he said.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur made the remarks when he paid a courtesy call on his Indian counterpart Mohammad Hamid Ansari in New Delhi.
The discussions between the two men focused on issues about the Ghanaian economy as well as deepening the long standing relations between Ghana and India which dates back many years ago.
The call formed part of programmes and activities lined up for the Vice-President who was in India to participate in the Indian Economic Forum.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur also called for increased investments from India in the infrastructure sector such as rail and road transport to facilitate the evacuation of raw materials and finished products from their various destinations to the market centres and to the ports for export.
He briefed the Indian Vice-President on Ebola and steps which had been taken by countries in the sub-region, international bodies and the global community to contain the disease which had claimed thousands of lives in the region.
He said since there was no wall between Africa and the rest of the world it was the duty of the international community to rally behind the sub-region to contain the disease which had dislocated the economies of the affected countries.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur further explained to his host developments which led to the resignation of former President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso and efforts undertaken by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ensure that the country returned to normalcy and democratic rule.
On his part, Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari reaffirmed India’s commitment towards supporting Ghana’s democratic processes and economic development.
According to him, India was duty bound to assist Ghana to strengthen its democratic institutions to fully discharge their responsibilities towards deepening democracy in the country and also to enable them offer their expertise to countries in the West African sub-region.
He said India recognized Ghana as an island of peace in the sub-region and a bastion of democracy on the African continent and for which it would always do well to comprehensively support the country’s well being and development.
Source: GNA
