Accra, Feb. 18, GNA - Britain said on Friday it intends to double its bilateral trade with Ghana by 2015. The European nation commended Ghana as a country with a reputation of good governance and expressed the desire to intensify bilateral trade with Ghana and other key African nations under its new foreign policy. Mr Henry Bellingham, Minister for Africa at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said the new trade and investment moves with Ghana wer= e based on trust and understanding.

Mr Bellingham, who is on a three-day visit to Ghana, announced the intended trade increase when he paid a courtesy call on President John Evan= s Atta Mills at the Osu Castle in Accra. The Minister is in Accra as part of an African tour on trade and investment issues. He praised President Mills and the Government for improving the Ghanaian economic environment and said now was the time to put relations between the two nations on a strategic footing. President Mills traced the long history of the relations between Ghana and Britain, and indicated that strengthening the relations should not be a difficult matter.

He described Britain as having the requirements for investment, adding that it already knew the Ghanaian business terrain. While expressing Ghana's appreciation for the support received from Britain over the years, President Mills said more imports from Ghana would help build the government's Better Ghana agenda. Ghana would equally ensure a fair investment and co-operation for the mutual benefit of the two nations, President Mills said.