Danish govt to support

THE Danish Government has extended a $700,000 package to the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) to enhance its training programmes for the rest of 2009.
Announcing the package during a courtesy call on the Commandant of the KAIPTC, Air-Vice Marshall(AVM) C.E.K Dovlo in Accra, the Danish Ambassador, Mr Stig Barlyng, said the Danish government was committed to providing support to the centre periodically.
Mr Barlyng said his government had recognised the invaluable contribution of the centre to regional integration, peacekeeping, conflict management and resolution since its inception in 2004.
He pledged the commitment of the Danish government to enter into a long-term agreement with KAIPTC at the end of the year, when the current arrangement between Denmark and the centre expired at the end of 2009.
He advised the Ghana government to continue to maintain the ownership of the KAIPTC although it was a regional institution.
Mr Barlyng explained that his experience over the last few years about some regional and sub-regional bodies, indicated that most of those bodies did not work to expectation because of certain ambiguity about the true ownership of those regional bodies.
He called on the commandant of the centre to give more allocation to civilians on courses being run at the centre in order for the civilian community to appreciate the operations of the military and the centre.
The Ambassador again commended the management and staff of the centre for maintaining a clean and perfect landscape and said that, “this culture should be maintained.”
AVM Dovlo expressed his gratitude to the Danish government for the support, and promised the fund would be put to good use for the provision of training in conflict, crisis management among others to ensure peace and stability on the continent.
Contrary to public opinion that the centre charged fees on courses being run at the KAIPTC, the commandant said every programme at the centre had external funding, therefore, participants were not required to pay fees.