From: George Ramsey Benamba, GNA Special Correspondent, Nice, France.

Nice, June 2, GNA - Ghana and some African countries would soon benefit from a 400 million-dollar grant from the French Government. Vice President John Dramani Mahama said the grant would be used to address climate change, conflicts, food security, peace and security challenges on the continent.

He was briefing journalists at the 25th Franco-African Summit in Nice, France. The two-day summit, which focused on trade, partnership, economic integration, peace and security was attended by leaders from 56 African countries. More than 200 executives from the private and public sectors from the participating countries attending the summit signed partnership among themselves.

Vice President Mahama said in addition, the French Government had drawn a comprehensive plan for African countries to brainstorm on how to secure permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council in future. "President Nicolas Sarkozy was very frank in his submissions with the African leaders who attended the meeting giving me the conviction that he is committed to the welfare of Africa, which we the leaders need to embrace," he added.

Vice President Mahama said the participating countries could be beneficiaries of huge investments as most western countries were increasingly becoming interested in investing in Africa due to the low business risk and the continent's survival through the world economic recession.

He said France had promised to support African countries with "Solar Thermo Dynamics" an energy generating system that would not only be affordable but would also assist countries to export electricity to others. "This project has already started in Senegal where they would generate more than 2,000 megawatts for both domestic consumption and export to neighbouring countries," he added.

Vice President Mahama said discussions at the governmental level revealed that France was ready to transfer human resource development to participating countries in the fields of technology. He said the Ghanaian delegation would dialogue with the French Government to gain access to some of those facilities for development. "The other area that Ghana can gain tremendous support from the French Government is agriculture to assist government's comprehensive programme for Ghana to become a net food exporter, rather than a perennial food importer," he said.