THAT'S THE SPIRIT (MAY 8, 2010)

IN many developing countries, development initiatives are usually funded with donor support from developed countries and development partners.
The co-operation among developing countries is sometimes non-existent or abysmal, since there is the tendency to think that the best partners are those who are well developed and can offer very big donor funding or support.
While developing countries, indeed, stand to benefit tremendously from the support provided by donor partners from advanced countries, the potential benefits to be derived from partnerships among developing countries must also not be discounted.
For instance, some development experts believe that if the West African sub-region properly integrates economically, it stands to benefit tremendously from such a strong economic integration.
Despite the promise such co-operation holds for the partakers, very little practical meaning has been brought to it.
In an exemplary showpiece of commitment to South-South co-operation, the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has pledged the support of the Ghanaian government to the people of Equatorial Guinea in their quest to develop their country.
The President assured the people of Equatorial Guinea that the government would make available its expertise to strengthen and develop the capital and human resource base of their country.
Equatorial Guinea, which is the third smallest country in continental Africa in terms of population, has been rated as one of the richest countries on the continent after the discovery of significant petroleum reserves in the central African country.
Like Ghana, the country has a cherished association with cocoa and pre-independence Equatorial Guinea depended so much on cocoa production for foreign exchange. Also, it had a bright economic outlook in the 1950s and in 1959 had the highest per capita income in Africa.
Following the discovery of oil in 1996 and its subsequent exploitation, the country emerged as the third largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa as of 2004.
However, the riches of the country are yet to be truly felt among the entire populace and as the country initiates efforts to improve the lot of its people, the assistance pledged by President Mills on behalf of the government and people of Ghana may come in handy.
The quite striking similarities between Ghana and Equatorial Guinea in the areas of cocoa and oil should naturally create a strong bond of friendship between the two countries.
It is impressive to note that during President Mills’s visit to Equatorial Guinea, a section of the Ghanaian delegation also engaged in meetings aimed at streamlining certain agreements reached between the two countries.
Indeed, as already indicated, both Ghana and Equatorial Guinea stand to benefit from this mutually beneficial co-operation and it is our hope that the momentum that has so far been generated will be sustained.
Equatorial Guinea has acquired considerable experience in the management of its petroleum resources and there is a lot Ghanaians can also learn from it in that area.
The DAILY GRAPHIC hopes that this relationship will also serve as a catalyst to strengthen the country’s relationship with other developing countries and make South-South co-operation more meaningful.