By Emily Nyarko our correspondent in Ghana

The Japanese official technical and cooperation body, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has stepped in to provide capacity building training for Sierra Leonean technocrats in Ghana.

An 11-member team led by Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Sesay, Deputy Minister of Planning and Development of Sierra Leone is in Ghana to discuss bilateral cooperation with officials of the Ministry of Finance and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) in the new initiative expected to lift that country from the state of hopelessness to a more productive one.

For a start, the team will discuss and solicit Ghana’s assistance in the export of technocrats and other experts in various fields to help rebuild Sierra Leone.

Mr Sesay said most of the technical people in Sierra Leone have left in search of greener pastures during and in the aftermath of the destructive war.

“In the short term we need assistance from elsewhere hence the need for us to fall on Ghana to learn about how the country managed her economic stability and to push forward a structural adjustment programme.”

The Sierra Leone team met with the Ghanaian counterparts after recent training in Japan, which has extended similar support programmes for Ghanaian officials in the past.

The administrators of war torn Sierra Leone say they are determined to rebuild their country but the task requires a lot of support from all partners to correct what had been destroyed.

The 14- year war, which ended in 1997 killed thousands, maimed many, turned children into soldiers and destroyed infrastructure to the disgust of the civilized word.

Ghana is on the top of her economy; social and political structures after years of change in governments.

Sierra Leone and Ghana share similar historical and cultural backgrounds as colonized states and belong to the Africa Union, the Commonwealth, the Economic Commission of West African States and the United Nations.

In the words of Mr Sesay, “there was a time when Ghana went through both political and economic upheavals but has managed very well to come out of them.

“We look to this achievement as the setting of a benchmark that is worth emulating.That is why we feel strongly that we should be here to also strengthen the South-South Cooperation between our two countries,” Mr Sesay observes.

He therefore acknowledged the experience that Ghana has with Japan in the area of capacity building and says “it is only proper at this time that sharing the experience Ghana went through we will benefit as great deal. We also discuss issues of mutual benefit through the exchange of programmes, share experiences and deepen the ties through the tripartite relations with Japan.”

Ghana is the first country to play host to the office of JICA in the West Coast and Sierra Leone believes it stands to benefit a lot from her experiences.

“We have just come out of a devastating war that has destroyed every aspect of life in our country,” said Mr Sesay adding “it has become an emergency at this time to identify priority needs of the people and find solutions.”

The task ahead of Sierra Leone is not easy but the officials hope to explore one of the Millennium Development Goals in relation to the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development all of which Ghana is implementing.

Sierra Leone has currently designed its first poverty reduction strategy programme and is waiting to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with partners in London possibly this month between November 16 and 17.

The country hopes to have the international community also come to her aid through the strategy by way of contributions but in the meantime, Mr Sesay said there is the need to also formalize the programme with Ghana through an MOU in order to solidify the details of the bilateral discussions.

Ghana’s Acting Director of the National Development Planning Commission said Ghana may not have an excess of technocrats but certainly has more than Sierra Leone and is therefore ready to assist that country in anyway she can.