Mr Norring reaffirmed his coun­try’s support and commitment to Ghana when he paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Local Govern­ment, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, in Accra on Tuesday.

The purpose of the courtesy call was to strengthen the bilateral rela­tionship that had existed between the two countries over the past decades.

In his remarks, Mr Norring de­scribed Ghana as the most peaceful and stable nation in West Africa while he highlighted Denmark’s longstanding support to Ghana.
    

“We still see Ghana as the most peaceful and stable country in West Africa. A country that needs to be supported and needs to have our full engagement,” Mr Norring remarked.

He emphasised that the sup­port Ghana received was not only from Denmark but also from the European Union, which he said was the largest donor to both Africa and Ghana.

The ambassador also stressed the importance of continuing to sup­port the new government under the leadership of President John Dra­mani Mahama to achieve its goal of resetting the country’s economy.

“We have a lot to do together. We have a lot of interests between ourselves that we need to continue,” he added.

Mr Norring also expressed concern about the country’s water scarcity, which had been exacerbat­ed by illegal mining activities posing a threat to clean drinking water.

He, therefore, underscored the importance of cooperation between the two nations, assuring that “We will work together with Ghana to be a good and solid partner, in particular when it comes to water issues.”

For his part, Mr Ibrahim said that the various sectors of the country, including the health, transport, wa­ter, sanitation, as well as local gov­ernance and decentralisation had received both financial and technical support from Denmark through the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

He said that the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs through its collaboration with DANIDA, had implemented various intervention programmes such as the Danish Support to District Assemblies (DSDA), the District Development Facility (DDF), and the Right to Services and Good Governance Project (RSGGP).

Additionally, Mr Ibrahim noted that the Tema Metropolitan Assem­bly (TMA) was collaborating with the Danish Embassy in the imple­mentation of the Strategic Sector Cooperation on water, which aims at deploying innovative technologies to reduce water losses and improve sanitation.

While acknowledging the significant contributions made by the Danish Embassy through its various intervention programmes, Mr Ibrahim recommended that the Embassy collaborated with the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs in areas such as capacity building for staff and officials of RCCs and district assemblies.

Also, he urged the Embassy through its collaboration with the MoLGCRA to foster local econom­ic development by capacity building and supporting local development initiatives, support the drafting of the borrowing bill, contribute to the improvement of sanitation and environmental sustainability, and to provide support to sub-district structures, as well as non-state actors.