Accra, Dec. 14, GNA - The Governments of Ghana and that of Denmark on Friday signed an agreement to enable Ghana access more of the Danish Development Assistance to improve upon her Poverty Reduction Strategy. The agreement was the outcome of high level consultations on development cooperation between Denmark and Ghana since last Wednesday. Dr. Anthony Osei Akoto, Minister of State in-charge of Finance and Economic Planning signed for Ghana, while Mr. Carsten Nilaus Pedersen, Under-Secretary for Bilateral Development Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Copenhagen signed for Denmark.

Dr. Osei Akoto said the focus of this year's consultations was on the overall policy issues, which looked at five main areas which are progress towards poverty reduction, aid effectiveness and regional issues, The rest are present and future bilateral development and cooperation between the two countries and cross cutting issues such as empowerment of women and climate change. He said Danish development assistance to Ghana started as far back as 1957, which had grown in size, quantum and scope over the years in the areas of grants for transportation, water and sanitation, business, governance and health.

Dr. Osei Akoto said the overall objective of Danish development assistance was to contribute towards the GPRS, adding that Denmark was the first nine Development Partners to sign onto Millennium Development Goals adopted by government of Ghana in 2003.

He said reports available from the implementing Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) indicated a high level of cooperation between the officials and their Danish counterparts leading to a remarkable success rate in the area of implementation. Some of the programmes and projects funded by Denmark included the rehabilitation of the Konongo-Kumasi road, construction of the commercial court and support to the Judicial Service, Registrar General's Department and the decentralization programme. He expressed gratitude on behalf of government and the people of Ghana to Denmark for their invaluable support to the nation's development over the years.

Mr. Nilaus Pedersen said there was the need for stringent anti-corruption measures to be in place at the district level in order for government to pursue its decentralization policies with confidence. He expressed concern over the continued regional imbalances, which caused disparities in the quality of life of Ghanaians and said the extensive development cooperation between the two countries would help improve upon the living standards of the people.