'India a reliable partner both in developing and developed world': President tells Ghana

Asserting that India is a reliable partner both in the developing world as well as in the developed world, President Pranab Mukherjee has called for strengthening trade and economic ties between New Delhi and Accra.

"President said brand India is a reliable partner both in the developing world as well as in the developed world. India adds value to the mineral resources here, created employment, transfer of technology and that it created a win-win situation which builds on the local resources including human resources," said Secretary (Economic Relations) Amar Sinha.

"Ghanaians of course realise that India's investment is not only the biggest in terms of the numbers, but also in the diversity. But the new fields that both the CII and the Ghanian association for industries have identified a rarely mining, energy, agro industries and services centers including IT. We already have Airtel here, TATAs are here, some pharmaceuticals companies that are operating here and most recently DPS has opened a branch here," he added.

The Secretary (Economic Relations) said both nations realised that they had started very well right from the time of independence, adding the political relations have remained very close without any imperilment and that it was high time to focus on deepening trade and economic relations.

"While discussing the trade and economic relations, our President Mukherjee mentioned that we have a healthy three billion dollar trade but there is a need to be slightly more ambitious. Emphasising on the target of five billion dollars trade in the next three years to 2020, the President said that we need to be more ambitious than that," said Sinha.

Highlighting the President's pitch in terms of investments, Sinha said, "While in the past, we relied on the line of credit, government to government way of doing things, relied on PSUs, but the time has come that we should look at encouraging private sector's participation in the economy."

Stating that the Ghanaian side has for the first time talked about their firm commitment to international solar lines after having signed the COP-21, Sinha said they are now looking at sustainable energy solution.

"And since India is the leader in nuclear energy, they would like to explore the possibility of having civil nuclear energy cooperation with India," he added.

Sinha further said the President also underlined the fact that political stability is absolutely critical for any investment whether it is Indian or even Ghanaian.