Brazilian envoy visits Speaker Mike Oquaye

The new Brazilian Ambassador to Ghana, Maria Elisa Deluna, has paid a courtesy call on Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Oquaye to explore ways in which the Brazilian Parliament can collaborate with the Ghanaian legislature to help deepen parliamentary democracy in the country.

She said good democracy is the bedrock for economic development and would therefore like the Brazilian parliament and that of Ghana to have that fruitful relationship to exchange ideas and promote accelerated development in both countries.

According to her, Ghana has a lot to learn from Brazil, not only in democracy, but also in technology, education, agriculture, industry and football.

Ms Maria Elisa Deluna said Brazil has had historic ties with Ghana and that she is very determined to help deepen the ties and also explore new areas of cooperation between the two countries.

Welcoming the new envoy, Prof Mike Oquaye said that her new posting is coinciding with the 25th anniversary of parliamentary democracy in the country which would be celebrated by parliament in the course of the year.

According to the speaker, the President of the Senate of Nigeria had been invited as the special guest speaker at the anniversary.

The speaker also said that a Parliamentary Commission would be set up to look at areas where Ghana’s parliament and that of Brazil can collaborate effectively.

He said he would also ensure that the Ghana-Brazil Association in parliament becomes very effective in helping to exchange ideas between the peoples of the two countries.

The majority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who was at the meeting, appealed to Ms Maria Elisa Deluna to help Ghana to recover its forest cover with effective afforestation programme.

He said 20 years ago Ghana had about 8.5 million hectares of forest vegetation but it has reduced to less than one million hectares, saying that that must be of great concern to managers of the country.

The first deputy minority leader, Ahmed Ibrahim, called on the new Brazilian Ambassador to help Ghana in the areas of education and sports, especially to unearth football talents and promote football in the country.