All Korea Exim Bank financing projects which have temporarily been halted as a result of Ghana’s ongoing Debt Exchange Programme will resume immediately negotiation processes with the Paris Club are completed, Chairman and President of the Korea Exim Bank, Hee-Sung Yoon, has assured.
Negotiations with the Paris Club is expected to be completed by the end of November after which Ghana will receive the second tranche of $600 million of the International Monetary Fund programme.
He said work on projects such as the University of Environment and Sustainable Development, the ports development and others in the highways sector which had temporarily been suspended would resume immediately after the neglect.
“Once the debt restructuring process are completed EDCF projects which were temporarily halted such as the establishment of the University of Environment and Sustainable project will resume immediately,” he said.
Mr Yoon gave the assurance when he paid a courtesy call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra on Tuesday.
The chairman and his delegation are on a working visit to the country to explore ways of corporation.
He explained that Ghana and Korea had been key partners of the Economic Development Corporation Fund (EDCF).
Mr Yoon noted that both Ghana and South Korea would continue to explore cooperative projects in emerging development sectors with high demand such as green and digital initiatives on top of the infrastructures.
“Ghana has been a key partner of the Economic Development Corporation Fund which is interested to us Korea Exim Bank on behalf to the Korean Government,” he emphasised.
In addition to this he said feasibility studies for projects requested by the Ghanaian government would begin again, stressing that “I hope in the future we anticipate the expansion of economic cooperation between Ghana and South Korea and hopeful for the development of Ghana as a hub for the automotive industries in Africa.”
Mr Yoon explained that the launch of the KIA motors automotive international which was from South Korea and with overall production capacity of 35 assembling south unit was one of the companies being supported by the EXIM Bank.
He also expressed interest of the EXIM Bank to support the government of Ghana in the implementation of the Tema Port Expansion and Accra-Elubo Highway.
“I heard that you are very keen on developing infrastructures such as Tema Port expansion, Accra Elubo Highway and I will like you to tell us about the details of the project and then we will consider your projects in the future and we will get back to you and the sectors in charge,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo who welcomed Mr Yoon and his delegation expressed his appreciation for the visit and assured that the negotiations would be concluded with the Paris Club by the close of the year.
“I am happy about your commitment to the resumption of some of these stalled projects, and once our works with the Paris Club are over… we have high hope that the Paris Club negotiation would be finished very soon. Hopefully by the end of the year.”
President Akufo-Addo noted that all indications were that the negotiations were going well and these new matters placed before the EXIM Bank were ones that the government took seriously.
He noted that the relationship between Korea and Ghana had been excellent and this had been demonstrated by the number of high level visits.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL