Loan Facilities to Ghana Restored | Japan

The Japanese government has restored the Yen loan facility to Ghana after it was blocked when the previous administration under John Agyekum Kufuor opted for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2001. This was the outcome of a closed door bilateral meeting between the Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan and President of Ghana John Evans Atta Mills in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Briefing journalists after the closed door discussions , Director of Communications at the Presidency Koku Anyidoho said the Japanese government has also agreed to accept about one hundred Ghanaians annually for three years training in industrial development, education, agriculture and infrastructural development at Fukushima Prefecture which is the birth place of Dr Noguchi. “In 2001, when the past administration (NPP) decided to opt for the HIPC initiative Ghana’s debt of about one billion dollars to Japan was written off and so it was not likely that in the short term, the Japanese Government was going to restore any Yen loan facility" he said. "However it was made manifestly clear that the Japanese Government is really keen on supporting President Mills’ Better Ghana Agenda hence the restoration of this Yen loan facility. The President expressed his profound gratitude to Prime Minister Kan for his government’s decision to restore the loan facility” he said. Mr. Anyidoho said President Mills has also asked the Japanese Government to support the establishments of a jute factory and the shea butter industry in line with the SADA project in order to make the lives of Ghanaians in the north better. President Mills’ visit to Japan which started on Wednesday September 29 comes after a similar trip to China where he succeeded in signing several financial agreements totalling about sixteen billion dollars for the country.