...SECOND SCOTTISH BORDERS AFRICA DAY CELEBRATIONS AT HAWICK, SCOTLAND

The second Scottish Borders Africa Day celebration has been held at Hawick, Scotland.

The event which attracted students and parents of Hawick High School, citizens of the Scottish Borders, businessmen and members of the Scottish Parliament was interspersed with African storytelling, drumming and cultural displays by the Abrempong Cultural Troupe based in London.

The climax of the occasion was a live telephone link-up between the students and the President, H.E. Mr. J.A. Kufuor during which he answered a variety of questions on a wide range of issues.

On Iraq, President Kufuor said it was the government?s expectation that a peaceful settlement of the crisis would be evolved in the interest of peace and stability.

To a question on the role of Ghana in the World today, President Kufuor described Ghana as a gateway to the West Africa and added that the foundation had been laid for the consolidation of good governance in the Ghanaian society. He said that the fact that government?s efforts had been embraced by Ghanaians was ample demonstration of their confidence in the programmes to put the country back on its feet.

In an answer to a question on which aspects of life in Europe he found difficult to accept, President Kufuor stressed that every conceivable effort should be made to give proper and acceptable care to the elderly in various countries.

President Kufuor praised the people of African descent in the diaspora for their immense contributions to what America and Europe had achieved today.

On his perception and hope for the country during his tenure of office, President Kufuor was optimistic that his tenure of office would witness the creation of wealth and provision of basic needs for the people.

In his inaugural speech at the event, Mr. Kwabena Baah-Duodu, Deputy High Commissioner who represented the Ghana High Commissioner to the UK, Mr. Isaac Osei, spoke at length on the health situation in Africa and efforts being made to combat the spread of the infectious diseases on the continent.

He expressed regret that most of the available drugs were too expensive to meet the pockets of the infected people in Africa.

Mr. Baah-Duodu called for new ways of researching, developing and funding the medicines that poor nations badly need.

To reverse the trends, he said apart from encouraging drug companies to get involved in the provision of medicines, Africa also needs to build up a pharmaceutical industry of its own, with technology transfer from both the middle income and developed countries.

On the New Partnership for Africa's Development, Mr. Baah-Duodu, stated that the big issues African governments had to tackle under the initiative such as conflict resolution, economic growth, fairer trade, inward investment and human development would require the support of the developed countries.

He declared that ?they need to work with donors, the international financial institutions, the business communities and civil society to make the commitments in NEPAD a reality".