My Ghana Electronic Desk

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE H.E.Ali Bongo Ondimba H.E. Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of the Gabonese Republic, has announced the creation of a $200 million fund, in association with the New York Forum Institute and with the support of the whole CEMAC region (Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo). The fund, called “Train My Generation”, was announced at the closing session of the New York Forum AFRICA, and will finance the creation of 50 professional schools that will train 100,000 students in 18-24 months, whereas the training programmes will last from 12 to 18 months. Announced at the biggest pan-African summit in the world, the fund will also be presented to the G8 Summit currently ongoing in the United Kingdom.

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE AfDB President Donald Kaberuka African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Donald Kaberuka, today June 17, 2013, applauded the G8 for its emphasis on the issues around resource mobilisation through greater transparency in taxation of Africa’s natural resources. Speaking as G8 leaders began meeting in the United Kingdom, Kaberuka urged the international community to promote transparency, curb tax evasion and ensure more balanced contracts in the natural resources sector, saying transactions in the sector were very opaque. “It is only in this way that our countries will be able to find the financial resources they need to fund infrastructure and trade corridors, which until now have been very dependent on donor funding,” Kaberuka said.