The US government is to assist and support the Ghana Armed Forces to be more resourceful and effective in peacekeeping operations, both within and outside the country.

It would also help with logistics, make it more competitive and help create more income generating ventures.

Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister for Defence, said this at the airport on Monday on his return from the US, where he held discussions with officials of the US National Security Council, the Pentagon and the African Centre for Strategic Studies.

Dr Addo-Kufuor said the US Department of Transport and the US Coast Guards have agreed to transfer four naval vessels to help protect marine resource and prevent poaching of fish in Ghanaian water by foreign vessels.

He said the first of such vessels would arrive in the country by next week with the rest arriving within the next three months.

The Defence Minister said a helicopter for an aerial surveillance would also be included.

Dr Addo-Kufuor said that currently the US Navy is negotiating with the Nogouchi Centre for Medical Research to intensify the search for a malaria vaccine.

He said research into malaria has not received enough attention and a top US doctor would soon arrive in the country to collaborate with the Nogouchi Centre.

He said the interest in malaria stems from the fact that some of the operations of the US military are in the tropics.

Dr Addo-Kufuor, who described Ghana-US relations as very good, said Ghana now enjoys a lot of goodwill in the US as a result of the peaceful elections and transition and government's effort to entrench democracy.