4 envoys present letters to the designated Minister of Foreign Affairs

Four new envoys accredited to Ghana officially presented their open letters to Ms. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the President’s representative at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in Accra.

They are the High Commissioner-designate of Namibia to Ghana, Ms. Selma Ashipala-Musavyi; and the Ambassador-designate of China to Ghana, Mr. Lu Kun.

The others are Austrian Ambassador designate to Ghana, Mr. Thomas Schlesinger; and the Ambassador-designate of Mexico to Ghana, Mr. Enrique Ernesto Escorza Zamudio.

The envoys took turns presenting their open letters to Madame Ayorkor Botchwey, who officially welcomed them and wished them a successful tour of service in the country.

In a meeting with the High Commissioner-designate of Namibia to Ghana, the Minister-designate recalled the long-standing historical relationship between Ghana and Namibia, dating back to the time of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah , who supported the liberation struggle, which was waged by the People’s Organization of South West Africa (SWAPO), as an essential part of Ghana’s African decolonization policy and added that Nkrumah’s vital support laid the foundation and helped establish the current political goodwill between the two countries.

She encouraged the High Commissioner-designate to continue her efforts to further improve bilateral relations between the two countries by working to convene the next session of the Ghana-Namibia Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation, the preparatory meetings of which began in 2019. but were interrupted in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ms. Ayorkor Botchwey assured the High Commissioner-designate of Namibia of the commitment of the Government of Ghana to promote cooperation between Ghana and Namibia in areas of mutual interest and interest in expanding bilateral relations.

The Minister-designate, in her interaction with the Chinese Ambassador-designate, noted with satisfaction that high-level visits and exchanges between Ghana and China have become frequent and fruitful in recent years.

She added that as a result of the exchanges, the trade relations between the two countries had seen a remarkable increase, making China the main trading partner of Ghana with a trade volume between the two countries exceeding 7.4 billion. dollars.

Madame Ayorkor Botchwey, assured Mr. Lu of Ghana’s continued solidarity and mutual support in the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic which has severely affected the global economy and thanked the Chinese government for its invaluable support and timely provision of medical supplies including PCR machines and personal protective equipment to help Ghana fight the pandemic.

Ms Ayorkor Botchwey acknowledged the long-standing ties of friendship and cooperation that “fortunately” exist between Ghana and Austria, based on a mutual commitment to peaceful coexistence, respect for the rule of law, democratic governance and international cooperation.

She reaffirmed Ghana’s determination and personal desire to continue forging strong partnerships for cooperation between Ghana and Austria, which is why Ghana recently opened its very first diplomatic mission in Vienna as a sign of commitment. of the Ghanaian government to expand its relations. with Austria.

Ms Ayorkor Botchwey recalled President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s visit to Austria in May 2019, during which he had fruitful bilateral discussions with President Alexander Van der Bellen, in order to further deepen relations between the two country.

She also referred to the official visit of Mr. Andreas Melán, Austrian Special Envoy for Relations with Africa, in June 2019, during which mutually beneficial conversations with her (Ms. Ayorkor Botchwey) took place, and welcomed Mr. Thomas Schlesinger, Ambassador designate of Austria to Ghana.

Ms Ayorkor Botchwey expressed her gratitude for the financial and technical assistance provided by the Austrian government to Ghana in various fields, including those related to infrastructure, health, agriculture and education sector, where various Training programs and scholarships had been offered to Ghanaians to study in Austria, which had contributed to the development of Ghanaian human resources and expertise.

Madame Ayorkor Botchwey, in her engagement with Mr. Enrique Ernesto Escorza Zamudio, Ambassador-designate of Mexico to Ghana, spoke of the long-standing historical relationship between the two countries, dating back to August 1961, when Mexico became the first country of Latin America to establish degree relations with Ghana.

She said that relations between Mexico and Ghana had always remained cordial based on solidarity and mutual respect and stressed that Ghana was ready to continue to work closely with Mexico in the framework of multilateral organizations to protect and promote the interests of developing countries in an increasingly difficult global environment.