Accra, Feb. 21, GNA - The Government of Ghana on Wednesday signed a non-project grant agreement of 1.4 billion yen (about 117 billion cedis) with the government of Japan.

The grant is part of a scheme to provide the Ghana government with foreign currency in order to facilitate the importation of needed machinery and equipment for development.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, who initialled for Ghana, said the grant would assist in the consolidation of government priorities as stipulated in the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II).

He said under the programme, government would focus on provision of rural infrastructure such as schools, motorable roads, health facilities and improvement of the quality of life of rural people.

Mr Masamichi Ishikawa, Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, who signed for his country, said Japanese grant to Ghana had increased consistently over the past few years because the people of Ghana had demonstrated great effort towards open and competitive economy.

He expressed the hope that the grant would strengthen the relations between the two countries and help speed up the economic growth of Ghana.

Mr Ishikawa congratulated the government and the people of Ghana on the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of independence and President John Kufuor's assumption of the chairmanship of the African Union.