President John Dramani Mahama is seeking the support of Sweden to develop Ghana’s renewable energy resources.
He said Ghana had a huge potential in wind and solar energy production, which the government plans to tap to boost the country’s energy supply.
At a meeting with the Crown Princess of Sweden, Princess Victoria, at the presidential villa at the Akosombo Hydro Electric project site yesterday, Mr Mahama noted Sweden’s tremendous capacity in renewable energy generation and expressed the hope that it would partner Ghana in that respect.
Princess Victoria was in the country to promote bilateral relations between Ghana and Sweden.
President Mahama said climate change had prompted the government to not put all its eggs in one basket in power generation.
That was why the government was exploring renewable energy generation, he said.
Ghana-Sweden relations
Mr Mahama said the two countries had friendly relations and recalled his visit to Sweden last year, during which he discussed the need for the two countries to sign bilateral investment agreements to create a vehicle for advancing their cooperation.
He said already there were a number of reputable Swedish companies operating in Ghana and contributing to the country’s success story.
The President mentioned Errikson, which is a leader in the telecommunication industry, and said the company had contributed to the training of Ghanaian telecommunication engineers to boost the human resource base of the country.
Bus rapid transit
President Mahama further stated that while in Sweden last year, he held discussions with Scania Company, which was ready to support Ghana to run the rapid bus transit system.
While expressing concern over the congestion on the roads in the cities, the President said one of the remedies to the problem was the bus transit system which the government was determined to implement.
Crown Princess
Responding, Princess Victoria said Sweden was proud to be a partner in Ghana’s development process.
Accompanying her was the Swedish Minister of Trade, Dr Ewa Bjorling, and the Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Svante Kilander.