Ghana and Singapore will strengthen their agriculture and green partnership.
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A groundbreaking carbon markets agreement and plans to expand agro-processing and employment in Ghana served as the focal points of Ghana and Singapore’s discussion on Wednesday regarding collaboration in sustainable development and value-added agriculture.
“The first Asian country to sign the implementation of a carbon credit agreement with Ghana and the first in Africa, is Singapore,” President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said during bilateral talks with President John Dramani Mahama in Singapore.
He framed the agreement as a means of directing investment toward low-carbon growth.
He went on to say, “other areas of interest are agribusiness, downstream processing of products like cashew, cocoa… and we are ready and glad to pursue them together.”
On a three-day official visit, President John Mahama said Ghana is aiming to create jobs by focusing on modern agriculture and services.
“On tackling the challenge with jobs, agribusiness has space for work and lots of employment, and we have, as part of our Reset Agenda, put a lot of focus on it,” he said.
“Ghana has more than enough arable land for farming,” he added, highlighting the Volta Economic Corridor: “We have over 2 million hectares of land along the river for development into agro-processing parks, irrigated lands, etc., and that surely will be another game changer under our Resetting Ghana and the 24-hour economy programme.”
Mahama also mentioned how quickly Ghana’s youngsters may find employment in the “creative and digital services” sector. When compared to traditional job markets, he claimed that the sector “employs faster and creates five jobs easily.”
In his remarks, Tharman noted that “jobs are a challenge, but that’s also something you are dealing with,” highlighting Singapore’s desire to support the growth of SMEs in addition to green and agro-industrial initiatives.
While congratulating Singapore on its 60 years of independence, Mahama framed the larger partnership as part of Ghana’s participation in Africa’s economic opening under the AfCFTA.
“We are stabilising the economy,” he said, and the next phase is to convert stability into sustainable, job-rich growth through green finance, downstream processing and digital opportunity.
Source: newsthemegh.com
