Belgium Ambassador bids farewell

Accra, July 3, GNA - Vice President John evans Atta Mills on Monday received the outgoing Belgian Ambassador, Gregoire Vardakis, at the Castle, Osu, and urged him to propagate Ghana's investment potentials abroad.

He said the potential exists for investment and that the time has come for serious but genuine businessmen, including Belgians, to exploit the opportunity for good returns.

Mr Vardakis has been reassigned to Kuwait after a three-year duty tour of Ghana. Professor Mills expressed appreciation to Brussels for providing a forum for discussions between African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states and their European Union (EU) counterparts, particularly on issues bothering on trade and commerce.

He said Ghana is particularly interested in enhanced ACP-EU relations, because there is the need to work together to remove obstacles that hamper smooth trade from Africa, as well as the negative effects of globalisation.

"We are more interested in trade than aid," Prof. Mills reiterated, saying that although globalisation has some positive sides, it has brought in its wake certain disparities that need to be addressed.

He said Ghana hopes to exploit the existing close bilateral relations with Belgium to compete meaningfully in the global economy.

Mr Vardakis said his country regarded Ghana as a beacon in West Africa in terms of democracy, good governance and more importantly, the paralleled Ghanaian hospitality.

"Wherever I go, I will tell the people that 'Akwaaba' is still prominent in Ghana." He said his three-year duty tour has given him an insight and deepened his knowledge about the high value of the bilateral relations between Ghana and his country and pledged to communicate his "positive thoughts" to his successor.

The outgoing Ambassador spoke about his home government's policy to regularise the stay of certain category of illegal immigrants and said statistics from the implementation of that policy indicated that Africans are the most beneficiaries.

Mr Vardakis also expressed the hope that the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary polls would be successful and peaceful.

Mr Joseph Awa Laryea, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, described Belgium as "an old friend of Africa" and said its policy to regularise the stay of illegal immigrants has benefited many Ghanaians in that country.

He said Ghana looks up to Brussels to put in place measures to enable African states to prepare for the globalised market.