<<Print>>

The United Kingdom Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Country Report for May 2011 on Ghana identified a shift in Ghana�s international relations. A copy of the report made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Thursday indicates that the recent development of links with China, backed by concessional Chinese funding for infrastructure projects, has led to a shift in emphasis in Ghana�s international relations. However, it noted that government would continue to maintain good relations with Ghana�s major trading partners and donors, especially the United States of America and the United Kingdom both of which have a large Ghanaians in the Diaspora. On Ghana�s relations with other West African States, the EIU report said the nation�s traditionally strong relationship with Nigeria would also continue, with Nigerian companies having a growing presence in Ghana, although frictions over the large and increasing number of Nigerians working in Ghana might intensify. It said Ghana faced a tricky problem in managing relations with her crisis-hit neighbour, C�te d�Ivoire. �Ghana�s relations with the new government are all the more important given that their maritime border area is believed to contain significant hydrocarbon resources,� the report indicated. The EIU Report also revealed that progress on all fronts is expected to be slowed down gradually as political manoeuvring ahead of Election 2012 picks up pace. �This will be exacerbated if Professor John Evans Atta Mills is not elected as the NDC Presidential Candidate, as it would render him a lame-duck President,� it added.