'Focus On Three Areas On Cooperation With China'

By Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh

Shanghai — Ghana's ambassador to China, Mr Edward Boateng has called for cooperation and collaboration between ministries to enable Ghana focus on three areas to benefit meaningfully from its cooperation with China.

He said Ghana must prioritise and focus on infrastructural development, such as roads construction, human resource development including training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and agricultural production under the USD 60-billion aid China has promised under the China-Africa Forum.

Mr Boateng said such a focus was imperative to enable Ghana develop concrete and meaningful programmes and projects with plans that would readily attract support noting that the approval of projects and programmes for funding would depend on the timely submission of the plans.

He said he considered the three areas as critical to the sustainable development of the country and that cooperating with China in these areas would benefit the country meaningfully and transform the pillars of national development.

Explaining why he considered these areas critical, he said the country should improve upon her road infrastructure not only to open up but to make movement of people, goods and services efficient and less costly.

Mr Boateng said China has a good human resource base in appropriate areas and in the right quantities and qualities to sustain development and make progress; therefore Ghana would benefit immensely in any cooperation with China in that front.

On agriculture, he said it did not make sense for Ghana to import basic food items and that she should be able to feed herself.

The Ambassador pointed out that the average land size of Ghanaian farmers was the same as in China but the yield in China was about eight times more than in Ghana.

"It means that what we need in Ghana is not mechanisation or large land holdings but improvement in yields and here is where China could be of immense help," he emphasised.

Mr Boateng suggested that if Ghana wanted to accelerate her road construction, then there was the need for local government and city authorities to tax residents to maintain city and township roads so that central government would focus on highways and farm roads.

China is one country that imposes road tolls on major highways.

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