Accra, Feb. 13, GNA - A United Nations Team tasked to assist developing countries to radically reduce poverty by 2015 has started the process to secure several million dollars for Ghana to speedily implement its poverty reduction strategy programme.
The Leader of the Team, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who was speaking to Journalists, after a meeting with Vice President Aliu Mahama at Castle, Osu, said the team was also assisting Ghana to develop the best strategies and operational frameworks that would facilitate development.
He said the facility would also cover Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Kenya and Senegal, which were identified with Ghana as the potential developing counties best prepared to meet the UN Secretary-General's Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
Prof. Sachs said in Ghana, the focus would be the raising of the productivity of farmers, especially small-holder ones through the provision of irrigation and fertilizer, investing in energy, infrastructure, healthcare, education, water and sanitation.
The Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General is in Ghana with a 15-member team, for a three-day visit to discuss major challenges and opportunities toward developing needs assessment and confirming a timetable and organizational plan for achievement. Prof. Sachs praised Ghana for her efforts at improving human development through the poverty reduction strategy, saying it was consistent with the objectives of the MDG.
However, he stressed the need to revise the Ghana Poverty reduction Strategy (GPRS) to make it more comprehensive and robust to meet the MDG's target of 2015.
He said Ghana, which is being governed well, has very bright prospects for achieving significant poverty reduction with the requisite investments, private sector participation, community action and civil society contribution.
Prof. Sachs said countries, which were on the right track toward achieving socio-economic prosperity must be assisted by richer countries to meet their aspirations.
That is why the seven countries were chosen for support under the first phase of the Millennium Project, commissioned in 2002. He said Ghana must work with other African countries toward a Green Revolution on the continent because there was a lot of potential for Africa to make it.
He told the Vice President that his meeting with representatives of Ghana's development partners earlier was fruitful, with strong indication of commitment from them.
Vice President Mahama welcomed the assistance to mobilize funds, saying it would push the Government's agenda to reduce poverty and create wealth.
He explained that Ghana had to prioritise the programmes for poverty reduction because of financial constraints.
The support for investments in water and sanitation, agriculture, and health care, particularly in reducing malaria and HIV/AIDS, he said, was very appreciable since those diseases affected productivity. "I would like to stress that water is life and assistance to the sector would, therefore, improve the management of malaria and help agriculture," he said.
He, however, called for fairer trade regimes to enable developing countries to sell their products otherwise the increases in their productivity levels would see limited prosperity.
Vice President Mahama said Cabinet at its last meeting focused a lot of attention on HIV/AIDS and considered making condoms more accessible to those who needed it.
Finance and Economic Planning Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo said Ghana would meet all the targets of the MDG if she received the requisite financial and human resources from the team.
The Millennium Project was commissioned following the Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000 by Governments of 189 member states of the World Body to assist developing countries to half poverty levels by 2015.
