Five new Ambassadors/High Commissioners

Accra, Jan. 22, 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. 22 Jan. 08