The Indian Government is assisting the Government of Ghana with a 150 million US dollar concessionary grant to establish district mechanisation centers across the country to give farmers access to mechanization services.

The move is expected to boost agricultural activities in the country especially in the rural areas, which hosts most of the country's poor population who are largely dependent on agriculture for their living.

Mr Sugandh Rajaram, the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana disclosed this during an interaction with the media in Wa on Sunday as part of a one-week official and maiden visit to the Upper West Region.

He said Ghana just like India has the majority of its population living in the rural areas and they should not forget that the future of the development of the country was dependent on these rural areas particularly the agricultural areas.

Mr Rajaram said the two countries must therefore make a deliberate effort to focus on the rural agrarian areas when implementing development services, particularly in the agricultural services.

The High Commissioner noted that the similarities between Ghana and India presented lots of opportunities in development cooperation, hence his decision to embark on the regional tour to learn the strengths and opportunities for cooperation.

He said in Accra there was a lot of intensity in stakeholder engagement between the two countries, which he said must be the same across every region to ensure that India's support was widespread across the country.

In the health sector, Mr Rajaram said India was the Pharmacy of the world as it produces more than 70 per cent of the drugs produced in the world and more than 75 per cent of the vaccines and supplied same to more than 150 countries.

On the COVID-19 pandemic, the High Commissioner noted that India supplied more than 85 million vaccines to more than 70 countries so far indicating the country's commitment to the health needs of the world.

On trade, he said India was targeting to cross five billion dollars worth of trade between the two countries, adding that, two years ago, they were around 4.5 billion dollars but dropped to about 2.5 billion dollars due to COVID-19.

He expressed hope that the situation will improve to bounce back to hit the five billion dollar target as they looked forward to expanding trade relations between the two countries.

Within his one-week stay in the Upper West Region, the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana is looking forward to interacting with political and traditional authorities, the business community, educational and health, and cultural institutions.

He will particularly visit the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), the Regional Hospital, and the Centre for National Culture.

Mr Rajaram is looking forward to striking political, economic, and developmental cooperation among others in the region.