Accra, Aug. 24, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama, on Monday held discussions with Mr Park Young June, Vice Minister for Government Policy at the South Korean Prime Minister's office, to deepen economic relations between the two countries especially in maritime security and housing.

The visit of Mr Park, who is leading the largest South Korean Government delegation ever to Ghana, signalled new momentum in the relationship between the two countries through the provision of boats to enable the Ghana Navy to mount a more robust surveillance of the coasts. Welcoming the 13-man delegation to the Castle, Vice President Mahama thanked the South Korean government for acceding to Ghana's request for patrol boats and the procurement of new ships to deter poachers of the country's maritime resources and safeguard oil installations.

He, however, appealed to the Korean authorities to rapidly increase their development assistance to Ghana in order to extend development programmes to underserved communities.

Vice President Mahama said instead of spreading thinly its development assistance, the Koreans could consider selecting a few African countries as model societies and offer them massive resources to enable them to break through economically.

He said Ghana wanted "useful partnership" with the Koreans in the petro-chemical, road construction, and transport sectors to provide the requisite infrastructure that would enable her take off economically. Mr Mahama proposed several forms that the 'partnership' could take notably a direct government-to-government partnership, private-public-partnership and joint Ghanaian-Korean investments in selected sectors so as to enhance the competitiveness of industries. Vice President Mahama proposed the restructuring of outstanding financial commitments the Ghanaian government owed their Korean counterparts to give the government space to overcome the global financial meltdown.

Mr Park said his visi t was intended to mark a new chapter in the relationships between the two countries by developing efficient public delivery systems that were crucial in expanding the Ghanaian economy. He said Ghana's "dynamic" advances in democracy and political stability required the support of friendly partners such as South Korea to grow the economy.

"South Korea can be a good partner to Ghana," he said and asked Ghana to participate fully in an 'expo' to be held in South Korea to market her to investors there. As a sign of their warm relationships, the Ghana Government extended an invitation to the South Korean President to visit the country while the South Korean side requested the Ghanaian Vice President to fly to Seoul for bilateral discussions. 24 Aug. 09