Six states sign Volta basin management deal

An agreement for the joint management of the Volta River Basin was signed on Friday by six countries which share the river's resources, A Ghanaian official at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology told IRIN. "The Volta River is very important to us," Edwin Barnes, chief director of the ministry, told IRIN on Monday. "We are happy to have cooperation with our neighbours on the management of this resource." This agreement is the result of four days of talks in Accra on the efficient management and protection of the resources of the Volta basin. The agreement was signed in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, by Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo. The talks were facilitated by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Barnes said. "Each country has its own concern but this concern will have to be integrated into the programme so that whatever decision each country would like [to take], there should be consultations on all sides," Lee Ocran, Ghana's Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, said on local radio.