STORY: Talk with Ambassadors on Belt and Road: Ghana
DATELINE: July 31, 2023
LENGTH: 00:11:38
LOCATION: Beijing
CATEGORY: POLITICS/ECONOMY/SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Ghana related footage
2. STANDUP (Chinese): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
6. SOUNDBITE 4 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
7. SOUNDBITE 5 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
8. SOUNDBITE 6 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
9. SOUNDBITE 7 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
10. SOUNDBITE 8 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
11. SOUNDBITE 9 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
12. SOUNDBITE 10 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
13. SOUNDBITE 11 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
14. SOUNDBITE 12 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
15. SOUNDBITE 13 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
16. SOUNDBITE 14 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
17. various of Ghana and China related footage

STORYLINE:

STANDUP (Chinese): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
"The West African country of Ghana, a major cocoa producer, is reputed to be 'the land of cocoa.' Ghana boasts a long history, and a rich and unique culture.
For today's episode of Talk with Ambassadors on Belt and Road, we are here at the Ghanaian Embassy in China to talk with the Ghanaian Ambassador Winfred Nii Okai Hammond and learn about China in his eyes and the Belt and Road Initiative in his understanding."

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
"Your Excellency, I've learned that you visited China before serving as the Ghanaian Ambassador to China in 2021, and had been interested in the country long before that. Could you please share with us some of your stories with China?"

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
"When I was growing up, many years ago, in the early 1960s, one country that I knew to be Ghana's close friend was China. You can imagine my desire and excitement one day to come to China.
Moving forward, I worked with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), then moved on to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), and had the privilege to be sent here to China in the year 2013 with a team of Chinese colleagues and others to do an assessment of Chinese facilities in the field of agriculture, and look at the extent of the agricultural development and how we can improve South-South cooperation between China and Africa.
It was exciting what I saw. I had worked in many developing countries, many in Africa, a few in South America, and a few in the Caribbean islands. But what I saw here was fascinating. The sense of development, even in the rural areas, was quite fascinating to me. I did not finish going through the five provinces I was supposed to visit. And I wrote my reports that we don't even need to go further. This is the place to do South-South cooperation and have good cooperation to improve other developing countries."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
"You've also just mentioned that you've worked with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization."

SOUNDBITE 4 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
"That's right."

SOUNDBITE 5 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
"So from your point of view on agricultural and rural development, what is your comment on China's practice and experience in poverty reduction? And what are your expectations for the China-Ghana cooperation in poverty reduction?"

SOUNDBITE 6 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
"It is a well-established fact that if you want to lift people out of poverty, you've got to develop agriculture in its entirety. Agriculture is not just about producing food, but what you do with what you produce, and how that impacts the lives of the people.
And to lift people out of poverty, they don't only need food to eat, they need to have the resources to be able to cater for other needs. So when you add value to your crops, to what you produce, whether livestock or crops, and you're able also to provide infrastructure linkages, the technological know-how for the people to be able now to bring their produce of goods, qualities, standards to other parts within the country and outside the country, you are empowering the people. By empowering them, you are making them have the wherewithal to be able to take care of other needs, whether in education, health, and many other needs.
This is what you would call lifting people out of poverty. And this is what China did. And I think this is an example to the rest of the world. For China to be able to do the lifting of 700 or more million people from poverty, it's unprecedented, and it is something that the world, especially the developing part of the world, is looking up to emulate."

SOUNDBITE 7 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
"Well, that's (these are) really insightful ideas. The year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). What achievements have been made through the joint efforts between China and Ghana in promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation?"

SOUNDBITE 8 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
"Yes, as you said, the 10th anniversary of the BRI, as we call it. Ghana joined about five years after that, in the year 2018, when we signed the agreement. Prior to that agreement, we already had a lot of Chinese interests and investment in Ghana in many sectors. But the signing of that agreement brought us to another level of cooperation in infrastructural development, investment, and trade.
And I think for Ghana, we signed up with the aim of improving our infrastructure in terms of roads and hospitals and schools, etc. And I can say that through the BRI and through Chinese institutions, Ghana has been able to improve its road network.
We can talk about the one in the north in Tamale, in the Cape Coast area, and in many areas that (where) infrastructure development had been on the increase through the BRI.
And you know what this means, it's impacting the socio-economic life of the people, the fisherfolks, who now could have a good place for storage of their produce, they can add value to their produce, and they will be able to make much more money. Their livelihoods, of course, improved. So the cooperation between Ghana and China through the BRI has been very impactful, to say the least."

SOUNDBITE 9 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
"We know the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is located in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. And also China is one of the biggest trading partners of Ghana. So in terms of economic and trade promotion, how do you think the Belt and Road Initiative has benefited Ghana and other African countries?"

SOUNDBITE 10 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
"Thanks for that important question. China is Ghana's biggest trading partner, as you rightfully said. And to many other African countries, I believe China is the biggest trading partner.
Ghana is the second-largest producer of cocoa in the world. Ghana, as of now, most of what it sells to the world is raw cocoa. It doesn't benefit the cocoa farmers very much.
So it is about time we pay attention to adding value to what is produced in Africa. The (African) Continental Free Trade (Area) is established to integrate markets. And to integrate markets, you need to meet certain standards. But you also need to have good linkages between producers and users within, but also to have the linkages that will enable the continent as a whole (to have) free movement. This is where BRI comes in.
Accra, being the center, or the capital, you can call it now the 'trade capital' of Africa. We stand a good opportunity to attract investors. We are calling on investors to come and help to add value to our products, investors to come, help to manufacture, improve the manufacturing sector. Investors to come in all aspects. This is required that through the BRI, we will focus on these issues and address them properly."

SOUNDBITE 11 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
"As China is gradually resuming outbound tours, from your point of view, what are the tourism attractions and cultural charms of Ghana to Chinese tourists?"

SOUNDBITE 12 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
"Ghana is full of many festivals, depending on which tribe you belong to. If you are from Accra, you have the Homowo Festival, which in itself has a lot of activities. We have several others. As you go to the north of the country, their culture is quite unique. And that is also where you have the Mole game reserve.
What are we looking for in Ghana? We say Ghana is still a destination for tourists. But it's a bigger destination even for investors in tourism. We're looking for investors, who will come and add state-of-the-art architecture, to our infrastructure situation to improve what we have. We are opening up to such tourists and such potential investors to come."

SOUNDBITE 13 (English): YU HUICHEN, Belt and Road Portal Editor
"In recent years, China and Ghana have been making extensive efforts in promoting people-to-people exchanges while deepening economic and trade cooperation. So what areas would the two countries focus on in future cooperation? And what are your expectations for the next 10 years of the two sides' joint construction of the Belt and Road?"

SOUNDBITE 14 (English): WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND, Ghanaian Ambassador to China
"China is one of the topmost world-leading economies in the world, then you want to be associated and have more exchanges by building the capacities of your people to such exchanges. And language, as you know, is key. I wish I could give this interview in Chinese. How proud I would have been. And so it is important many Ghanaian youths are now eager to learn this language. They are eager to really get to understand the Chinese culture.
When we look down the line for the next 10 years, Ghana still needs to focus intensively on agricultural development that will focus on modern agricultural technologies. Not just producing cassava, yam or maize, but you are adding value to what you produce. Just the Chinese model, as I said, from the beginning.
10 years along the line, if you don't start addressing climate change effects now, you are in big trouble. This is where China and Ghana should be focusing, agriculture, green and blue economy. And when you address that, you are providing jobs, you are lifting people out of poverty. This is what we should be looking at."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.
(XHTV)