Russia allocates land for new Ghana Embassy Complex

After several years of diplomatic negotiations, the Russian Government has finally transferred the certified and registered land ownership documents on the 1.5-hectare plot of land allotted for the construction of the Ghana Embassy complex in Moscow to the Government of Ghana.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Ghana to the Russian Federation, H.E. (Dr.) Kodzo Kpoku Alabo, on Thursday received the documents from the Main Administration for Service of the Diplomatic Corps (GlavUpDK), the Estate Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Ambassador Dr. Alabo (representing the Ghana side) expressed sincere gratitude to the Government of Russia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation as well as the Moscow City Authorities, and further urged the senior officials from the Main Administration for Service of the Diplomatic Corps (GlavUpDK), the Estate Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to assist in facilitating procedures for the actualization of the construction of the complex.

“It is our hope and expectation that with the receipt of the land, both sides would take additional measures toward the realization of the Embassy complex project, and it is the Mission’s prayer and that of the People and Government of Ghana that by the time Ghana attains 60 years of independence on March 6, 2017, the complex would be completed,” Dr. Alabo told the officials during the meeting.

In response, the Deputy Director-General the Main Administration for Service of the Diplomatic Corps (GlavUpDK), the Estate Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Mr Alexey Izotov, explained that the documents provide a full-fledged legal framework within which both parties can now team up and to work expeditiously on the concept of the construction, and this also opens the next phase of diplomatic cooperation.

As of August 2014, when H.E. (Dr.) Alabo assumed duty as Head of Mission, Russia had not yet fulfilled its part of the 1989 Agreement on the reciprocal allocation of plot of land in spite of the extensive measures taken over the years by the Mission to secure land.

Since his arrival to Moscow, Ambassador Alabo has held series of meetings with the Russian authorities to address the issue. Indeed, the issue was again raised during the inaugural session of the Ghana Russia Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation held in October 2014 in Moscow.

In November 2014, the Head of the Mission took the matter up with the Head of GlavUpDK, during which it was revealed that a plot of land had actually been allocated to Ghana and that the documents covering the plot of land would require the signature of the Head of the Federal Agency on State Property Management, Mr. Vitaly Nikolaevich Domoratsky (signing on behalf of the Russian Government), as a necessary part of the procedure for the transfer of the allocated plot of land for the construction of Ghana Embassy Complex in Moscow.

In 1989, the Governments of Ghana and Russia signed an agreement for the reciprocal allocation of plots of land for the construction of Embassy complexes in Accra and Moscow. The Republic of Ghana has fulfilled its part of the Agreement by allocating a 1.5-hectare plot of land to the Russian Government on Switchback Road where the Embassy of the Russian Federation is currently located in Accra, Ghana.