Interviews

GERMANY Urges Avoidance of Another Debt Trap    

Germany's eminent position in the world economic order needs not be emphasised beyond the fact that she is a member of the G8 club of rich countries and a leading donor of development aid to the Third World. She has also been, indeed, one of Ghana's leading aid donors and development and trade partners for more than five decades.   The fact is not lost on Ghanaians that Germany was the first aid donor to cancel any of Ghana's debts - as much as DM400m back in the early 1990s.  That Germany should be a leading exponent of universal debt relief, under the aegis of the G8, and that she should forgive Ghana all her remaining debts, must come as a welcome relief. Total German debt forgiveness to Ghana amounts to E493.54m, E260.69m of it under the HIPC initiative. 

This is 100 per cent debt forgiveness, points out the German Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Peter Linder, and goes beyond the 90 per cent called for under the "Cologne Terms" agreed in 1999.  

Ambassador Linder, is obviously anxious to see that Ghana makes good use of the accruals from debt relief and, even more important, ensures that she avoids another debt trap - a sentiment that has been stressed again and again since the Gleneagles G8 decision of last July.  

German investment in Ghana is among the highest of any country and her technical assistance - including educational grants to Ghanaian professionals and technocrats - is among the most valuable at this stage of her development.  Since 1994 total German investments have involved 114 projects valued at US$13m, and covering agriculture, manufacturing, services, tourism and other sectors.  

Moreover, points out Ambassador Linder, a number of bilateral agreements on reciprocal protection of investment, the avoidance of double taxation, etc, have already been signed and are due to come into effect in the course of 2006.

A number of German institutions are also involved in a wide range of activities, in Ghana, passing on experience and helping to train Ghanaians in areas such as social, economic and political governance, and private sector development.  

"Our relations," says Ambassador Linder, "have grown into a wide-ranging network of political, economic and cultural cooperation. Ghana's successful policy of stabilising her own democracy and promoting peace and security in the West Africa sub-region makes her an important partner in tackling global political and security questions, such as the reform of the United Nations, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism." 

Such cooperation has attracted active German support for African integration within the G8/NEPAD initiatives and support for West African integration within ECOWAS and for Ghana's role in it.  

Thus, the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, a centre of excellence in the training of peacekeepers, election observers and military and police personnel in West Africa, and considered an important pillar of security in West Africa, has been receiving considerable support from the German government. Ghana, says Ambassador Linder, is a "priority partner" for German development cooperation worldwide.      

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