BUSH TO WELCOME GHANA'S PRESIDENT FOR STATE VISIT

*Bush to Welcome Ghana's President for State Visit

*State visits reserved for closest allies and partner nations

Washington - President Bush welcomes Ghanaian President John Kufuor to the White House September 15 for a state visit (the highest-level official visit, reserved for America's closest partners and allies) to discuss issues focused on democracy, economic development and regional security.

Todd J. Moss, deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, discussed the visit September 11 in an interview with America.gov. He said it will celebrate one of the "closest bilateral partnerships" the United States has.

"I think it is no secret that President Bush has put Africa at the forefront of his foreign policy agenda," Moss said. "I think that relations between the United States and Africa are better now than at any time in American history, and I don't think that any administration has put more emphasis on Africa than this administration. Clearly, Africa policy will be one of the legacies of the Bush administration - that is something that the White House and president recognize clearly and are quite proud of."

Bush's February 2008 trip to Africa (where he visited Benin, Tanzania, Ghana, Rwanda and Liberia), Moss said, "was a series of celebrations ... and I think that inviting President Kufuor here for a state visit is part of that celebration of the partnership between Africa and the United States, and nowhere is that stronger than between the United States and Ghana."

Previewing the White House consultations, Moss, whose portfolio is West Africa, said the discussions are expected to "mirror U.S.-Ghanaian relations," which span the three primary areas of democracy, economic development and regional security.

Both the United States and Ghana will hold presidential elections later this year - so in January, both countries will have new presidents because both leaders are at the end of their constitutional terms. "So you have two presidents who are coming to the end of an eight-year period in a period of close cooperation," Moss said.

The upcoming election in Ghana - a country with "one of the best records in Africa," according to Moss - is especially important, he said, because this will be that country's fifth consecutive free, multiparty election. "Ghana has really shown the continent the way forward on democratization," Moss said. "It has really been a leader in democracy."

A second area is economic development, where again, Moss said, Ghana has been a leader on the continent by achieving more than 5 percent annual economic growth.

"We have really seen Ghana grow, not just in traditional sectors such as mining, cocoa and gold, but we are also seeing growth in the services sector, especially financial services." The result, he said, is that the country is achieving broader-based economic growth through patience and good economic policies, and that can be viewed as a model for the rest of the region.

Ghana is a U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) country, and it signed a $547 million development agreement with the MCC in August 2006. The country has also partnered with many U.S. government assistance programs.

And on regional security, Moss said Ghana is a leader on the continent and worldwide in international peacekeeping efforts. He credited Ghana for its peacekeeping efforts in Liberia, and he praised Kufuor in particular for working tirelessly to resolve difficulties in Kenya in the wake of that country's recent contested elections.

The U.S. partnership with Ghana, Moss said, dates back to the 1960s. Richard Nixon, when he was vice president before being elected president of the United States, attended President Kwame Nkrumah's inauguration in 1957 - which, Moss said, roughly coincided with the start-up of the Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of State, which this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

President John F. Kennedy signed a deal in December 1961 to help Ghana finance the building of the Akosombo Dam, which to this day generates much of the country's electric power.

Both the United States and Ghana enjoy "a long history of partnership," Moss said, "but at no time was it as close as it is now."