Last updated in March 2009
Political relations
Germany and Ghana have a tradition of friendly and wide-ranging political relations. In 2007, Ghana celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence as well as 50 years of successful German-Ghanaian relations in all areas. In 2007 and 2008, the importance of these anniversaries was underlined by a particularly lively exchange of visits at senior and top level. The special quality of German-Ghanaian relations will remain unchanged following the inauguration, in early January 2009, of the new President, John Evans Atta Mills/NDC, who succeeded John Kufuor/NPP in office. An important role in promoting Germany’s political standing in Ghana is played by the numerous organizations engaged in development cooperation there as well as the churches and the political foundations active in the country.
Besides the traditionally close relations in the area of development policy, peacekeeping and crisis prevention have, for a number of years now, been increasingly gaining importance.
With the establishment of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in 2004, Germany has provided Ghana with an effective instrument for training troops destined for deployment to UN peacekeeping missions and also, more recently, police officers from Ghana and other countries. In addition, Germany is helping Ghana to build an engineer regiment as part of the planned AU/ECOWAS Rapid Reaction Force.
Germany is the second most popular destination in Europe for Ghanaians after the United Kingdom. This is due in part to the relatively large number of Ghanaians (50,000) already living in Germany. Ghana holds Germany in high regard as a highly advanced country with considerable political influence worldwide and also as an important development partner. In terms of democratic principles, good governance, the rule of law, the protection of human rights and domestic stability, Germany regards Ghana as a model on the African continent. Ghana also lived up to its good reputation as a firmly democratic country with the presidential and parliamentary elections held in December 2008.
Development cooperation
German development cooperation with Ghana focuses on the following priority areas:
decentralization
agriculture
private sector development
In addition, Germany is one of a group of eleven donors providing multi-donor budget support and plays a leading role in the monitoring group that is composed of donors.
Since 1961, development assistance amounting to EUR 1,060.1 million has been granted to Ghana. For the two-year period 2007/2008, EUR 53 million were pledged for projects and programmes in these priority areas. Intergovernmental negotiations on development cooperation between Ghana and Germany are scheduled to take place this year (2009).
In addition to projects and programmes under Financial Cooperation (Development Loan Corporation, KfW) and Technical Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, GTZ), there are some 30 aid workers from the German Development Service (DED) and 15 integrated experts under the programme of the Centrum für internationale Migration und Entwicklung (CIM) working Ghana. Since the beginning of 2008, the Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) has also had an office in Ghana. In addition, four political foundations are active in Ghana: the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Hanns Seidel Foundation (with its own office) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
Cultural relations
A major contributor to cultural relations between Ghana and Germany is the Goethe Institute, which has been active there for over 40 years. Its activities range from German language courses to the fine arts, music, dance, literature and film and also include social and economic issues. Also active locally are the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which organizes exchanges for students and teachers and promotes the German language, the Deutsche Welle, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the church missions, which focus on education and health care. The areas in which the German Embassy is engaged include cultural preservation and the running of numerous scholarship and further education programmes. Achimota Secondary School in Accra receives support as part of the Federal Foreign Office’s partner schools initiative. A German Pavilion funded by Germany was officially opened there on 25 March 2009.
Football is extraordinarily popular in Ghana. Many Ghanaian footballers play for German clubs. An absolute high point was Ghana’s participation in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Not only did this bring the Blackstars success in being voted the best African team, it also boosted feelings of enthusiasm and mutual goodwill in the two countries.
Germany supports the efforts of Ghana’s women’s football team the Black Maidens to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany. The Black Maidens made a three-week training trip to Germany in September 2008.
Ghana sent two soccer coaches to the German Football Association's sports academy at Hennef, and a German tennis coach gave further-education courses to Ghanaian clubs. The German Embassy has made numerous donations to Ghanaian sports clubs and schools.
Over the past two years, there have also been concerts by Ghanaian, German and French hip-hop musicians as well as a concert featuring a French and a German conductor with Ghana’s most famous choir, the Winneba Youth Choir.
