CRS Report: Ghana: Recent Developments and U.S. Relations JAN 2013

CRS Report: Ghana: Recent Developments and U.S. Relations JAN 2013

Excerpt:

Ghana: Bilateral Cooperation and Leadership Engagement

Ghana is considered a model for many of the outcomes that many Members of Congress have

long sought to achieve in sub-Saharan Africa in the areas of authorizations; appropriations and

program guidance; and oversight. Ghana has received a large U.S. Millennium Challenge

Corporation (MCC) Compact and may soon receive a second. It is also a recipient of substantial

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and State Department bilateral aid, much of

which is channeled through three presidential development initiatives:

• the Global Climate Change (GCC) initiative;

• Feed the Future (FtF), a global food security and poverty reduction initiative; and

• the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the Global Health Initiative (GHI).

Ghana also hosts USAID and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regional offices and the

USAID-administered West Africa Trade Hub. The Hub focuses on expanding intra-regional and

bilateral trade with countries in the region, a key area of current congressional interest and a pillar

of the Obama Administration’s U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, released in June 2012.

Ghana is also one of four initial Partnerships for Growth (PfG) countries. PfG, implementation of

which began in 2011 in El Salvador, is intended to advance public and private bilateral

cooperation with selected countries whose top leaders demonstrate commitment to good

governance and sustainable development. Ghana hosts regular visits by Members of Congress,

and in 2009 President Barack Obama signaled that ties remain close by traveling to Ghana, the

only sub-Saharan African country that he has visited as president.

Link to report.