Five new ambassadors

Accra, Aug. 8, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday received the Letters of Credence of five new Ambassadors accredited to Ghana at the Castle, Osu.

They are Mr. Wenzhe Yu of China, Dr. Marius Haas, Germany, Dr. Christian Fellner, Austria, Mr Tore Nedrebo of the Kingdom of Norway and Mr. Bo Ba Khoa of Vietnam.

The first to call was the Chinese Ambassador and President Kufuor conveyed Ghana's appreciation to China for its significant economic support in the fields of energy development and construction. He noted that apart from the Bui Hydro electric dam the Chinese were helping to build, they were also into construction of roads and sports stadiums and in all these, they were showing strong competitiveness and delivering quality.

President Kufuor said the expectation was that in the energy sector China would go beyond Bui and assist Ghana to explore the development of coal-fired thermal plant as well as smaller dams.

Mr. Wenzhe said his vision was to enhance the friendly relations and strong ties between the two countries.

"Support is mutual and my country is grateful for Ghana's support for the one China policy," he added.

At the turn of Dr. Haas, President Kufuor asked him to help strengthen and deepen Ghana-German relations, pointing out that they had a lot in common and a lot to do for their mutual benefit. He said the country was searching for technical support to set up a thermal plant that would be fuelled by coal.

President Kufuor said although Ghana did not have coal, importing the commodity from countries like Zambia and South Africa to power the plant could be cheaper than using fuel to run it. He said they should therefore explore further to grow the relations between the two nations.

Dr Haas pledged to work to deepen his country's excellent relations with Ghana.

When the Austrian Ambassador presented his Letters, President Kufuor noted that Ghana and Austria had good ties and he expected him to work diligently to boost the confidence of the two Governments. "Let's look at what we can do for our mutual benefit. We can work together on the economic and cultural fronts." Dr Fellner said he would do everything to help build on the good relations.

His country, he said, was pursing initiatives that would give it a strong presence in Africa.

President Kufuor asked Mr Nedrebo to ensure that Norway used its influence with the Management of GHACEM to promote win-win relations between Ghana and the cement producing company. Ghanaians, he said, were not comfortable with GHACEM's cement pricing.

The company has been operating under Norwegian management for more than 30 years. President Kufuor also welcomed the offer by Norway to help Ghana fashion a policy to promote judicious application of Ghana's oil revenue when the operation of the country's oilfields took off. He said Norway had a special fund that guaranteed rational use of its oil revenue and Ghana would like to take a leaf from their experience.

President Kufuor called on Norway to revisit its interest in the country's fishing industry.

The Ambassador said his country was determined to increase its co-operation with Ghana, adding that with Ghana striking oil, this could even be more important.

Presenting his Letters, Mr Bo said his country was eager to share its expertise with Ghana in the areas of rural and agricultural development. President Kufuor said Vietnam's recovery after a devastating war had been amazing - it is now a leader in agriculture. He said in an era of South-South co-operation, Ghana would prefer learning from the Vietnam experience.

Vietnam was also excelling in the field of hydrocarbons and Ghana would like to benefit from their expertise, he said. The Austrian and Norwegian Ambassadors would be based in Abuja, Nigeria, while the Vietnamese Ambassador would reside in Tripoli, Libya.