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President Kufuor greets new Ambassadors/High Commissioners
with a message
Accra, Jan. 22, Ghanadot/GNA – President
John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday received the Letters of
Credence of five new Ambassadors and High Commissioners
accredited to Ghana at the Castle, Osu.
They are Mrs Julia Olmo, the Spanish Ambassador; Mrs Hajiah
Razinah, High Commissioner of Malaysia; Dr Nicholas
Westcott, British High Commissioner; Mr Osman Yansaneh, High
Commissioner of Sierra Leone and Mr Ekra Koussi Florent,
Ambassador of Cote d’Ivoire.
When the Spanish Ambassador called, President Kufuor said
Africa expected Europe to treat migrants from the Region
with sense of humanity.
He said it was important to appreciate that most of the
youth who migrated from the Continent to Europe “come not as
criminals”.
He, therefore, spoke of the need for Spain to move quickly
with the proposed establishment of Vocational and Technical
Centres in Africa to adequately prepare “would-be
immigrants” before they set off for Europe.
President Kufuor thanked Spain for its development support
for Ghana and expressed the hope that bilateral relations
between the two would continue to grow.
Ghana, he said, wanted to benefit from its relationship with
Spain through partnership in areas such as tourism where the
Spain had a lot of expertise.
Mrs Olmo expressed her country’s admiration for Ghana’s
economic and political success story and the leadership
President Kufuor was providing to bring peace and security
to Africa.
She pledged to work to increase the level of co-operation
between the two nations and to face together the immigration
issue.
At the turn of the Malaysian High Commissioner, President
Kufuor said Ghana and Malaysia shared a lot in common and
had related well both at the bilateral and international
arena.
As the country moved into industrialization and processing
of its agricultural products like oil-palm and cocoa, it
would want to learn from the experience of Malaysia.
The two countries gained political independence in the same
year but the pace of Malaysia’s development has been
fantastic.
Mrs Razinah said she would focus on promoting trade and
investment on the basis of South-South co-operation.
Dr Wescott, lauded President Kufuor for the efforts he was
making as Chairman of the African Union (AU) to help to
restore peace and security to Kenya, the East African
country, facing a melt-down following a disputed
presidential election.
“We appreciate your efforts as AU Chairman to get the
situation there back to normal and the United Kingdom would
provide support for what you have set on trail.”
He re-affirmed his country’s determination to continue to
work with Ghana in productive economic and political
co-operation as well as the fight against drug trafficking,
crime and uncontrolled climate change.
President Kufuor said Ghana was appreciative of the support
it was receiving from the UK in the areas of development and
good governance.
He said the Government was determined that Ghana should sail
through Election 2008 peacefully and would, therefore, give
the Electoral Commission (EC) the needed resources to
conduct free, fair and transparent elections.
He said the macro-economy of the country was holding
successfully and that what it required now was partnership
to develop private initiative and the private sector to
create more jobs and wealth.
The Ambassador of Cote d’Ivoire and the High Commissioner of
Sierra Leone conveyed the gratefulness of their countries to
Ghana for the significant role, sacrifices and support it
provided during the hard and difficult times they both went
through.
Mr Yansaneh said Ghana did not only contribute troops but
accommodated and supported refugees from his country during
the civil war.
It has also been at the forefront of helping to rebuild the
country by training its manpower.
President Kufuor said unless the countries in the West
Africa Sub-Region helped each other and co-operated, it
would continue to be ranked poorly.
On the Ivorien political situation, he said, he was happy
that the war was now over and asked the political leaders to
go through this phase of their country’s history with sense
of accommodation and compromises.
GNA
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