Ghana to provide technical expertise to Sierra Leone in energy sector

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has noted there is the need for Ghana and Sierra Leone to cooperate in the energy sector for mutual benefits.

In this regard Akufo-Addo said Ghana would consider providing technical expertise to Sierra Leone in that area.

A joint communique signed by Ghana’s Minister for foreign affairs and regional integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Sierra Leone’s minister for foreign affairs and international cooperation, Dr. Alie Kabba, on behalf of their respective countries in Accra, stated the two presidents agree to work together for the benefit of their citizens.

“Both leaders expressed satisfaction with the warm and cordial relations existing between their two countries and reaffirmed their determination to deepen and widen bilateral relations for the mutual benefit of the two countries and peoples”, the communique signed Monday, October 22 stated.

According to the communique, “President Julius Maada Bio expressed appreciation for the capacity development assistance that the Government of Ghana was providing, in collaboration with Médicins Sans Frontières, for nurses from Sierra Leone who were undergoing top-up training in Ghana”.

Other matters the presidents are said to have discussed include Free Senior High School and the overall quality of education in both countries, which Akufo-Addo said Ghana will again consider offering “technical assistance” in the area of technical and vocational education training to Sierra Leone.

“President Nana Akufo-Addo indicated that the Government of Ghana will carefully consider the request of the Government of Sierra Leone for technical assistance in the form of experts in the area of technical and vocational education training and will work with the Government of Sierra Leone on the modalities for implementing the request.”

The two leaders are also said to have discussed the importance of food security and the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme in Ghana as well as the general need for the two countries to position themselves strategically to fulfill the ECOWAS Regional Agricultural Investment Programme.

They also touched on the African Continental Free Trade Area and noted its immense benefits on trade expansion, job creation and national welfare gains for all African.

Issues regarding peace and security, health, trade, fisheries and others key areas of the economies also came up for discussion.

The President of Sierra Leone, Brigadier (Rtd.) Julius Maada Bio, who is on an official two-day working visit to Ghana on the invitation of the Nana Akufo- Addo, thanked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Government of Ghana for a warm hospitality accorded to him and his delegation.

He in turn extended an invitation to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to visit Sierra Leone on a date to be confirmed through diplomatic channels.