Ghana-France : Partners in development

Bilateral relations between France and Ghana, based on trust and dialogue, were boosted after the December 2001 and October 2005 visits of President Kufuor to France. Moreover, the newly elected French President, Nicolas Sarkozy received President Kufuor in Paris in June 2007. Five French Ministers visited Ghana recently : Dominique de Villepin (foreign affairs), 2003, Xavier Darcos (cooperation, development and francophonie), 2004, Claudie Haigneré (deputy minister, foreign affairs), 2005 and 2006 Brigitte Girardin (cooperation, development and francophonie), and Christian Jacob (Public sector) 2006 and 2007.

The document Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) which is the reference for the national development policy has been used to develop the Ghana-France Partnership Framework Document which was signed in January 2006.

French co-operation in Ghana increased significantly in the recent past to reach an average amount of 42 million € over the past four years.

Infrastructures

As part of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), the Government has embarked on a reflexion on the improvement of the living conditions of the ever-growing urban population. With the launching of the municipalities and district towns development support project (Urban V), the French Development Agency (AFD) has set up networking relations with Municipalities and is presently carrying out projects in Accra and Kumasi, financing urban roads, storm water drainage, and development of disadvantaged suburbs. With the Community Based Rural Development Project, the AFD supports decentralization and local development in rural areas, especially in the fields of education, health and water.

Agricultural sector and agronomic research

French cooperation is active in the development of the agricultural sector. The AFD contributes to the development of rubber tree, oil palm and coconut palm plantations within the framework of a partnership between public and private sectors. These “out growers schemes”, which bring together processing companies and groups of small producers, have proved particularly efficient. Moreover, the AFD supports the rice value chain in the Northern part of the country, with an aim at promoting local rice for the national market.

As for the agronomic research, the French Center for International Co-operation in Agronomic Research for Development (CIRAD) helps to fight against the lethal yellowing disease of coconut trees causing huge losses of income for farmers.

French cooperation is also supporting research in cocoa sector through a regional project coordinated in Accra whose aim is to find best methods to develop cocoa plantations in order to make them economically competitive and sustainable environmentally.

Water and sanitation

Water supply is a priority in Ghana. The GPRS goals include universal access to drinking water and acceptable sanitary conditions. The AFD has supported rural water projects in Northern Region and plans to fund a new rural and semi-urban water project in Brong Ahafo Region.

Private sector

PROPARCO, AFD’s subsidiary dedicated to private sector development, financed over the past few years investment projects of 8 companies operating mainly in export oriented sectors of the economy (financial services, agro-industry, textile…). PROPARCO also set up a strong partnership with the banking sector by providing medium term lines of credit in USD or in Euros to finance the investment projects of small and medium sized Ghanaian enterprises. 3 commercial banks and 2 leasing companies have so far benefited from PROPARCO’s lines of credit up to USD 37 million, and more projects are currently under study.

The teaching of French and the promotion of cultural diversity

Ghana is very determined in her desire to achieve regional integration on political, economical and social levels. Her immediate neighbors as well as the majority of ECOWAS member countries being French speaking, France is supporting Ghana to improve the national level of French as a mean of regional communication. Moreover, Ghana’s membership to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie has been accepted at the Bucharest summit in September 2006.

French cooperation helps Ghana to train more teachers and to meet the growing demand for professional French.

A new project, currently under examination, will aim at building capacities and at improving the performances of the teaching and learning of French, in the way of the Government’s decisions to implement a reform towards more decentralization of its system while at the same time developing the teaching of French in the universities, not only in departments of languages but also in faculties of science, economics, international relations etc., in institutions and in the corporate

With the increasing involvement of French Cooperation in Ghanaian education, a Maison Française, where the general public will find information on studies in France, is under construction. Plans are further being made towards the establishment of a Francophone Digital Campus within Legon University.

The development of francophonie is also ensured through the network of Alliance Française in Ghana. Present in 140 countries and with a network of over 1000 committees, the Alliance Française is an association created in Paris in 1883 to promote French language and culture. Established in Ghana since 1957, it is represented in the country today by the five local committees in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tema and Cape Coast. They are autonomous, non-lucrative associations, affiliated to Alliance Française of Paris. As privileged meeting places of culture, their activities are numerous and aim to spread French culture through the teaching of the language (spoken and written, literary or professional) and to organize artistic events blending world influences.

Finally, AFD is going to finance a project for the teaching of business French to public and private sector stakeholders who have professional relations with francophone countries.

Cooperation in Radio and Television and Support to the media

The French cooperation maintains a privileged partnership with NAFTI (National Film and Television Institute) which constitutes a pole of reference for the whole of West Africa in terms of training for the cinema and television professions. A dubbing unit is now operational at NAFTI and several francophone series are currently being dubbed. Regarding the co-operation with the media , various supports are offered to the Ghana Journalists Association and the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

Special attention is given to the bridging of the digital divide through assistance in the field of new information and communication technologies through the funding of an Internet Exchange Point linking the Ghana Association of Access Providers and the organization of various training course on ICT.

The Embassy also sees to the promotion of French and Francophone operators such as TV5, Canal France International, Radio France International or Agence France Presse.

Contribution to the Health sector

Trough its contribution to the Global fund, France has spent more than 40 millions USD in Ghana in the field of HIV, Malaria and tuberculosis.. A cooperation in HIV although exists between the Hospital of Marseille in France and Kumasi Hospital.

Strengthening of the rule of law and promotion of a democratic environment

Decentralization is another important topic of the GPRS . The French co-operation aims at strengthening local governance capacities of a specific Franco-Ghanaian project. The AFD completes this with financing urban and rural facilities. Furthermore some experimental projects aiming at transferring the management of natural resources to local communities are being launched. A project which ended in 2007 has brought support to the Ghana Police in the field of public order and to the criminal investigation department. In 2006, the French cooperation has started supporting the public sector reform process.

Multi Donor Budgetary Support

Since 2003, ten multilateral and bilateral development partners, including France, have been working closely together in order to support GPRS implementation through a Multi Donors Budget Support (MDBS). It allows for a better management of budgetary support and a more effective assessment of the economic policy. France contributes to this global support with 51 millions euros for the period 2007-2009. France was the Co-Chair of the MDBS process in 2006-2007.

Bilateral trade between France and Ghana in 2007

French exports :

In 2007, French sales to Ghana reached 225,7million Euros, a increase of nearly 11% Ghanaian imports of French products were mainly in the following sectors:

• Energy products (7,6%)
• semi-finished products (18%)
• heavy equipments, especially for the mining sector (28,74%)
• agro-products (24,38%)
• consumer goods (24,67%)

Ghanaian exports :

In 2007, Ghanaian exports to France amounted 191 millions Euros, +48%. They were mainly composed of agro-processed products (raw and processed cocoa, fruits, canned fish, timber).

Trade balance :

In the past, the trade balance was generally in favour of Ghana. For the past three years, France has been getting a surplus : 26 million € in 2005 and 74,35 million € in 2007,34 million € the general volume of trade increasing by 25,46% from 2006 to 2007.

French investments in Ghana

About sixty French companies (of which 20 large ones) are based in Ghana and active in various economic sectors. In the early months of 2003, two major French investments were finalised in Ghana : in the banking sector, Société Générale took over SSB Bank and in the agricultural sector , Golden Exotic (Compagnie Fruitière) has started fruit farming (ananas). In 2005, Total took over Mobil Ghana and is now the market leader in the distribution of refined petroleum products. The same year, the regional office of Air Liquide (industrial and medical gas producer) was transferred to Accra.

The other major companies are dealing in petroleum products (Total), hotel activities (Accor – Novotel), shipping (Bolloré, SDV, Antrak), goods inspection (Bureau Veritas), water and electricity infrastructures (Burgeap, Norelec), wholesale/retail (CFAO), agriculture (GREL) and industry (Franpac, Air Liquide, Nexans Kabelmetall). New French companies have recently opened branches in Ghana: Gras savoye (insurance), Potasse d’Alsace(chemicals), L’Oreal, Rossman (packaging).