08:50 p.m Feb 24, 1999 Eastern

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - President Bill Clinton provided money to beef up Ghana's peacekeeping forces, improve education and fight AIDS on Wednesday as Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings appealed to America to do more for Africa.

``Our investment in Ghana and Africa is one of the most important we can make for the new century,'' Clinton told a friendly, even folksy, news conference with Rawlings to mark the Ghanaian leader's state visit here.

Rawlings, who took power in a 1979 coup and has since been elected to two four-year terms as president, used his White House visit as a bully pulpit to, as he said, ``address the problem of hunger, poverty, debt and conflict'' in sub-Saharan Africa.

The 51-year-old former flight lieutenant arrived at the White House on a chilly morning in Washington. It was in sharp contrast to the scene in the Ghanaian capital of Accra last April when Clinton, beginning a six-nation tour of Africa, was greeted by hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians on a swelteringly hot and humid day.

``In our hearts, our welcome is warm,'' Clinton told Rawlings during the South Lawn welcoming ceremony before several hundred people bundled up against the cold.

Coming to Washington on a state visit was a major coup for Rawlings, whose human rights record was viewed as suspect at the start of his rule. At the news conference, Clinton heaped praise on Ghana and announced U.S. assistance for a number of projects.

``Ghana is not the largest country in Africa, but it continues to lead toward tomorrow by the force of its example, by its commitment to democracy, by its steady economic progress, by its cooperation with its neighbours,'' he said.

He said the Overseas Public Investment Corp., a federal agency that provides direct loans, loan guarantees and political risk insurance coverage to American companies investing in emerging markets, would provide a $7.5 million investment into privatisation of Ghana's state-owned pharmaceutical company.

A U.S-Ghanaian trade and investment framework agreement will be signed on Thursday, only the second between the United States and a sub-Saharan nation.

And Washington will provide $1 million to crack down on child labour in Ghana, $1.5 million to work with Ghana's energy sector to strengthen its power supply, and a $2.9 million grant for equipment and training for Ghana's contribution to an African peacekeeping force.

Rawlings, upon hearing Clinton detail the assistance, replied: ``I wish you had told me about it earlier on.''

He and Clinton showed an easy friendliness, with the loquacious Rawlings frequently interjecting, ``Hold on, Mr.

President,'' to add a point.

To Rawlings' hectoring for Washington to do more for Africa, Clinton said he told the Ghanaian leader, ``Reverend Rawlings, you're preaching to the saved.''

Clinton said he is trying to spread the word that Africa represents a bounty for new trade and investment and called again for Congress to pass the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which offers tariff incentives to reform-minded African countries.

But he urged Rawlings and the rest of Africa to be patient.

``We were isolated from Africa for a long time, except for Cold War concerns, and we are trying to have a broad, deep, full relationship now,'' he said. ``And it is simply not going to happen overnight. We are going to have to work at building it.''