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Ghana Other Countries
After 1981, PNDC foreign policy was designed to promote the
country's economic growth and well-being by establishing friendly
relations and cooperation with all countries irrespective of their
economic and political philosophies or ideological orientation.
PNDC policy also sought new markets for Ghana's exports, the
expansion of existing markets, and new investment opportunities.
Ghana's relations with Canada were quite good under the PNDC,
as were Ghana's relations with the European Community and its
member countries. In 1987, as part of its cancellation of the debts
of several African countries, Canada canceled a Ghanaian debt of
US$77.6 million. In 1989 Germany canceled US$295 million of Ghana's
foreign debt, and France canceled US$26 million.
A number of Western countries, including France and Canada,
continued to cancel debts in 1991, reflecting the generally cordial
relations between Ghana and Western countries and the confidence
the West had in PNDC policies. In early July 1991, Rawlings paid a
three-day official visit to Paris, which symbolized the close ties
that had developed between the PNDC and the French government.
Western countries have continued to show keen interest in, and
support for, the ERP and Ghana's transition to democratic
government.
In line with its commitment to the principles of nonalignment,
the PNDC sought to develop close relations with the socialist
regimes in Eastern Europe, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea (North Korea), and China. In the early days of PNDC rule,
Rawlings made official visits to China and Ethiopia, the latter
then headed by a Marxist-Leninist regime.
During these visits, various economic, trade, and cultural
agreements were concluded. Notable was the PNDC agreement with the
German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) for the
improvement of roads in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city, and
for the Kumasi-Accra highway. The GDR also supplied Ghana with new
railroad coaches. Barter trade with East European countries,
especially the GDR, Romania, and Bulgaria, also increased. The PNDC
established a State Committee for Economic Cooperation to ensure
more effective cooperation with socialist countries and showed keen
interest in developing relations with the Council for Mutual
Economic Assistance.
The PNDC policy of restructuring Ghana's education system,
moving from purely academic curricula to vocational and technical
training, benefited from Ghana's close ties with socialist
countries, notably Cuba. By 1985 Cuba was training some 1,000
Ghanaian school children and middle-level technicians. Cuba also
offered Ghanaians training in political leadership for
"revolutionary organs" and national security. Hundreds of Ghanaian
youths left for various socialist countries to pursue professional
and technical courses. The Soviet Union, China, and other socialist
countries awarded scholarships to Ghanaians for both academic and
technical courses. In addition, short-term training was offered for
Ghana's Committees for the Defence of the Revolution. Bulgaria
provided training in political organization and leadership, and the
Soviet Union furnished education in medicine, veterinary sciences,
and engineering.
The PNDC believed that Cuba provided a fruitful field for
cooperation in areas other than education. The PNDC agreed to a
joint commission for economic cooperation and signed a number of
scientific and technical agreements with Cuba ranging from cultural
exchanges to cooperation in such fields as health, agriculture, and
education. Cuba trained Ghana's national militia, gave advice in
the creation of mass organizations such as the CDRs, and provided
military advisers and medical and security officers for the PNDC
leadership. The two countries also signed agreements for the
renovation of Ghana's sugar industry and for three factories to
produce construction materials. In 1985 Ghana and Cuba signed their
first barter agreement, followed by new trade protocols in 1987 and
1988. Cuban medical brigades worked in Tamale in the Northern
Region, one of the poorest areas in Ghana. Cubans coached Ghanaian
boxers and athletes and taught Spanish in Ghanaian schools.
Ghana's relations with Cuba continue to be strong despite
Ghana's return to multiparty democracy and the severe economic
crisis in Cuba in 1993 and 1994. A joint commission for cooperation
between the two countries meets biennially in the alternate venues
of Accra and Havana. Cuba is helping to create a faculty of medical
sciences in Ghana's new University of Development Studies at Tamale
(see The Education System
, ch. 2). At the end of 1994, thirty-three
medical specialists were working in Ghanaian hospitals. A bilateral
exchange of technology and experts in mining and agriculture was
also underway. Cuba is training 600 Ghanaians, mostly in technical
disciplines, including engineering, architecture, and medicine. The
two countries are engaged in successful business ventures, too,
including a first class tourist resort at Ada in the Greater Accra
Region and a Ghana-Cuba construction company.
Economic relations between Ghana and Japan are quite cordial,
having improved considerably under the PNDC. Japan offered Ghana
about US$680 million toward the rehabilitation of its telephone and
television services. Following the visit to Japan of a Ghanaian
delegation in early 1987, Japan pledged a total of US$70 million
toward Ghana's economic development. In early 1994, Japan offered
a further US$16.6 million to modernize rail transport and to
improve water supply. In October 1994, Ghana joined in urging the
UN Security Council to admit Japan and Germany, two countries that
in 1993 and 1994 were among Ghana's largest aid donors, in
recognition of the international political and economic stature of
both countries.
Ghana's relations with the Arab countries were also generally
good during the PNDC period, and they remained so under the new NDC
administration. Considerable economic assistance flowed into Ghana
from the Arab world. Ghana signed loan agreements with the Saudi
Arabian Fund for Development for various development projects in
Ghana, including the promotion of Islamic education. In early
January 1994, loan agreements totaling US$16.5 million from the
Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development were signed to fund a
thermal power plant at Takoradi.
Following the peace accord between Israel and the Palestine
Liberation Organization in September 1993, Ghana reestablished
diplomatic relations with Israel in August 1994. Diplomatic
relations between the two countries had been broken in 1973 in
support of member Arab states of the OAU who were at war with
Israel. In urging resumption of diplomatic ties, parliament noted
that Ghana stood to gain access to Israeli technology, notably in
water engineering and irrigation, sewerage construction, and
agriculture.
Finally, in June 1994, a new Ghanaian ambassador presented his
credentials to Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow. At the
time, the Ghanaian government expressed its hope that democratic
restructuring in both Ghana and Russia and the advent of a market
economy in Russia would lead to new and diversified bilateral trade
and economic cooperation.
Data as of November 1994
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