Accra, Jan. 12, GNA - The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has committed 130 million Euros (approximately 275 Million Ghana cedis) to Ghana's financial and technical cooperation from 2009 to 2011. This new pledge represents an increase of more than 60 per cent in assistance from the German Government to realize its aim of providing particular support for partner countries that succeeded in practicing good governance.

A statement from the Germany Embassy in Accra on Tuesday, said the new commitment increased the total German Development Cooperation support to Ghana since independence to more than GHC2,400 million (1,180 million Euro). It said the release of the funds followed an agreement between Ghana and Germany on December 17 and 18, 2009 in Bonn Germany, during an inter-governmental dialogue.

The inter-governmental dialogue highlighted the strong commitment of Ghana to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and promote broad-based growth.

The statement said the German delegation acknowledged the successes in reducing poverty as well as Ghana's leading role in regional stability and democratisation.

It said during the dialogue both delegations stressed the importance of oil and gas for Ghana's sustainable growth and the consideration of international best practice for the processes. The Ghanaian-German bilateral development cooperation is based on Ghanaian strategies and implemented within the framework of the "Ghana - Joint Assistance Strategy", signed by all principal development partners. "In this context it was agreed to continue the German assistance in the existing focal areas of sustainable economic and financial development, agriculture and decentralization."

Additionally, Germany scaled-up its commitment for direct budget support in the framework of the Multi Donor Budget Support (MDBS). New commitments were already made in September, 2009 during which 55 Million Euro (more that 130 Million Ghana Cedis) and reconfirmed at the negotiations," the statement said.

At a meeting with the participants at the negotiations, Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentary State Secretary, to the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, emphasized: "We will continue to direct German-Ghanaian Cooperation towards future-oriented areas. By strengthening market orientation and performance-based incentive systems, we will continue to contribute to sustainable economic growth that will benefit large sections of the population," the statement said. 12 Jan. 10