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Foreign Minister meets British counterpart

Fri, 29 Nov 2002 Source: .

The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had a meeting with Ghanaian Foreign Minister Hackman Owusu-Agyemang on 28 November on his first official visit to London.

Mr Straw said:

'I was very pleased to see my Ghanaian colleague.

'We discussed Ghana's role in continuing to stabilise peace in the region. I expressed my appreciation to Owusu-Agyemang on Ghana's increasing role in Africa, notably with ECOWAS and UN peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone. I reiterated UK support, and said that we had pledged ?2m to support the Ghanaian contingent for the ECOWAS monitoring force in Cote d'Ivoire.

'I welcomed Ghana's decision to join the NePAD Implementation Committee, and to volunteer for the African peer review Mechanism. I hope Ghana will build on this involvement, and play a greater role in African issues on NePAD, Zimbabwe and Cote d'Ivoire.

'In the light of the events in Mombasa we agreed on the importance of how we all have a responsibility to combat global terrorism. I welcomed the progress Ghana is making to combat global terrorism but urged swift processing of compliance with the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee's requirements for member states to implement anti-terrorism measures.'

Notes for Editors

1. Foreign Minister Hackman Owusu-Agyemang is making his first official visit to the UK since his appointment in January 2001. His programme included a meeting with the Foreign Secretary.

2. Ghana is hosting the G8 Personal Representatives meeting with NePAD Steering Committee Members in Accra next week (7-8 December), which the FCO's Minister for Africa, Baroness Amos, will be attending. This aims to take forward the G8 plan formulated at the Kananaskis summit.

3. The DFID Permanent Under Secretary (Suma Chakrabarti) is currently in Ghana to discuss UK development assistance.

The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had a meeting with Ghanaian Foreign Minister Hackman Owusu-Agyemang on 28 November on his first official visit to London.

Mr Straw said:

'I was very pleased to see my Ghanaian colleague.

'We discussed Ghana's role in continuing to stabilise peace in the region. I expressed my appreciation to Owusu-Agyemang on Ghana's increasing role in Africa, notably with ECOWAS and UN peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone. I reiterated UK support, and said that we had pledged ?2m to support the Ghanaian contingent for the ECOWAS monitoring force in Cote d'Ivoire.

'I welcomed Ghana's decision to join the NePAD Implementation Committee, and to volunteer for the African peer review Mechanism. I hope Ghana will build on this involvement, and play a greater role in African issues on NePAD, Zimbabwe and Cote d'Ivoire.

'In the light of the events in Mombasa we agreed on the importance of how we all have a responsibility to combat global terrorism. I welcomed the progress Ghana is making to combat global terrorism but urged swift processing of compliance with the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee's requirements for member states to implement anti-terrorism measures.'

Notes for Editors

1. Foreign Minister Hackman Owusu-Agyemang is making his first official visit to the UK since his appointment in January 2001. His programme included a meeting with the Foreign Secretary.

2. Ghana is hosting the G8 Personal Representatives meeting with NePAD Steering Committee Members in Accra next week (7-8 December), which the FCO's Minister for Africa, Baroness Amos, will be attending. This aims to take forward the G8 plan formulated at the Kananaskis summit.

3. The DFID Permanent Under Secretary (Suma Chakrabarti) is currently in Ghana to discuss UK development assistance.

Source: .