Mr. Mustapha Sanah, Executive Director of Northern Ghana Aid (NOGAID) Ghana, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) has called on the Bretton Wood institutions to transform their relationship with Africa into partnership and not givers of loans. He said the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should explore ways of facilitating trade between the developed countries and less developed countries in Africa, promote technological advancement and sustain investments in key areas like health care and food security. Mr. Sanah, who made this known on Monday after a meeting with officials of the WB and IMF-Group at the sidelines of the annual meeting of the two bodies in Washington, noted that scaling up investment in Africa does not dwell solely on finance but the capacity to sustain productively. The Town Hall meeting was addressed by Mr. Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank and Mr. Dominique Strauss Kahn, Managing Director of the IMF. The representatives of Ghana to the meeting include NOGAID, IMANI and Ghana National Association of Teachers. “Africa needs to build institutional capacity, a vibrant media and active civil society organisations (CSOs),” he said. Mr. Sanah said the realisation of the Regional leaders that integration is key to foster more formidable economies was an indication that they are awakened to the challenges of the times. He said there is the need for Africa to remove trade barriers and encourage inter- regional trade as the surest way to overcome poverty. “We have the potential to grow more rapidly to ensure progress and posterity for our people in the continent.” Mr. Sanah said CSOs are indispensable partners for growth and development and therefore called on the WB and IMF to increase support to these organisations to strengthen their capacity to play a more meaningful role as partners for accelerated development in Africa. Representatives of the CSOs at the forum, called for a session that would provide them with training in how to access information made available through the bank’s Access to Information Policy, which went into effect in July, this year. The policy makes the WB the first multilateral organisation to disclose all documents that are not on a clear list of exceptions. “I can see the change, I can see that there is a will to be more open,” said Amy Ekdawi, of the bank’s Information Centre, who was closely involved with the implementation of the Access to Information policy. “One reason we are so excited about the Open Development agenda is that it gives new tools to local communities. Citizen participation can improve development outcomes dramatically,” said Caroline Anstey, Vice President for External Affairs at the WB. Source: GNA