Canada Increases Support

The Canadian High Commission in Accra on Friday marked the 139th National Day with a reception for guests from all walks of life.

This year's anniversary also marks 100 years of Canada's relations with Ghana.

The High Commissioner, Donald Bobiash, spoke about Ghana-Canada relations saying that Canada has been a partner in Ghana's development, since independence.

Mr. Bobiash lauded the creation of the Canada-Ghana youth network which aims at bringing young Canadian volunteers to Ghana in an exchange programme for the natural benefit of the two countries.

He described Ghana as an African success story and noted that during the last four years, Canada has more than quadrupled her development assistance to Ghana, from 12.5 million dollars in 2001 to 55.8 million dollars this year.

Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing Hackman-Owusu Agyemang, who represented government, expressed his satisfaction with the warm friendship that has existed between the two countries over the past 100 years, and said Ghana is appreciative of Canada's support in the socio-economic growth of the country.

“Indeed, we acknowledge the considerable increase in Canadian development assistance to this country in the past four years, which makes Ghana the largest recipient of Canadian aid in sub-Sahara Africa,” he said.

He said the government was committed to the ideals of democratic accountability, respect for human rights and rule of law, adding that these are building blocks for a sustained accelerated development and called for more collaboration.

One hundred years ago, missionaries from Quebec, in Canada, first established a church in Navrongo and since then scores of Canadians have come to Ghana for different reasons, he noted.