Cuban envoy confers with Daily Graphic
The Cuban Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Pedro Luis Despaigne Gonzalez, says the embassy will work towards strengthening the Ghana-Cuba relationship.
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Mr Gonzalez said since 1959 when Cuba officially established diplomatic relations with Ghana, the bond between both countries had been growing stronger.
He expressed the commitment when he paid a courtesy call on the Editor of the Daily Graphic (the flagship newspaper of the Graphic Communications Group Limited), Mr Ransford Tetteh.
He said the visit was to familiarise himself with the operations of the newspaper and dialogue on how the Cuban Embassy in Ghana could collaborate with the Daily Graphic to deepen relations between the two countries.
“Ghana is one of the earliest countries in which Cuba established diplomatic relations in 1959 and since then the relationship has been strong,” he said.
He said it was a Cuban policy to love Africa which should not only be in words, but in deeds as well.
Cuba supports Ghana in the areas of health, education and agriculture.
“Currently there are more than 3,000 Ghanaians studying in Cuba, more than 200 of them are studying medicine, all under Cuban government scholarships,” he said.
Since 1983, Cuba deploys doctors to Ghana to support healthcare delivery, saying currently there are 23 of such doctors working in the country, mostly in rural and inaccessible areas.
More areas for cooperation
Mr Gonzalez said there were more areas of cooperation between both countries for mutual benefits which he said would be explored.
The Cuban ambassador commended the newspaper for its reportage on the Caribbean island and expressed the willingness of the Cuban Mission to assist the Daily Graphic to do more in furtherance of the ties between both countries.
Editor responds
For his part, Mr Tetteh commended Cuba for its enormous support to Ghana’s health sector, highlighting how Cuban medical missions had helped the country’s health system.
On the bilateral relations, Mr Tetteh said Ghana and Cuba should continue to explore their South-South cooperation to enhance the well-being of their citizens.
“Both countries are developing countries so could appreciate the needs of each other better,” he said.
He described Cuba as a friendly country and that Ghana would not only be cordial with Cuba just for economic benefits, but also because Cuba was in the position to understand the challenges of Ghana better.
Highlighting the operations of the GCGL, Mr Tetteh said although a state-owned newspaper “we’re mandated as a fourth estate of the realm to hold governments to account. So even if the government, our sole shareholder, is doing something the public thinks is not right, we will take note and project the voices of the people”.
That, he said, should not be misconstrued as being opposed to the government.