From Kwaku Osei Bonsu, GNA Special Correspondent, Washinton DC

Washington DC, Sept. 15, GNA - Ghana and the United States (US), starting this September, would begin distributing medicines to about eight million people as part of a new initiative to fight neglected tropical diseases, President George Bush, has announced. The two countries, he said, stood as one in their work to free people from diseases.

President Bush was speaking after bilateral talks at the Oval Office in the White House with President John Agyekum Kufuor, who is on a four-day State Visit to the country.

Accompanying him are the wife, Theresa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, the Information Minister, Mr. Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, Professor Gyan Baffour, Deputy Finance Minister and other senior Government Officials.

The visit at the invitation of President Bush is to re-enforce the strong and enduring ties of friendship between the two countries. Their discussions centred on the promotion of economic opportunities, education and the fight against malaria and other diseases plaguing Africa.

President Bush lauded the leadership of President Kufuor and said his country was proud to stand by Ghana "to secure freedom from poverty."

"Ghana's leaders are governing justly, fighting corruption and investing in their people."

It was on account of this that they were supporting the country's efforts through the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Compact and promoting trade as a powerful engine of prosperity. Ghana-US trade last year, was valued at more than 600 million dollars, an increase of more than 55 per cent since 2001. President Bush also recognized Ghana's contribution towards the promotion of global peace with more than 3,000 of its soldiers serving on peacekeeping missions from Liberia to Congo to Kosovo and Georgia. On his part, President Kufuor urged the US to provide the necessary leadership to deal with the global challenges of climate change and the turmoil on the international financial market. He said the country should be the vanguard of finding solutions to these problems, which were hurting the economies of developing nations particularly in Africa and eroding the modest economic gains they were making.

President Kufuor expressed appreciation to President Bush for what he said were his administration's "humanitarian policies to Africa", from which Ghana has been a major beneficiary. Among these are the African Growth Competitiveness Initiative, which is supporting capacity development in international trade, African Financial Sector Initiative that gives Ghana access to the US Ex-Im Bank and the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. For this, President Kufuor said it was his hope that "history proves kinder to the US President", who would be ending his tenure in November. 15 Sept. 2008