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Mexico, Ghana strengthen bilateral relations - Ambassador Arriola Aguiire

The Mexican Embassy in Accra is celebrating 207 years of the beginning of the independence of Mexico today, with an assurance that bilateral relationship with Ghana is strengthening.

In just 29 months, since the re-opening of the embassy in Ghana, 10 business missions, made up of six from Mexico to Ghana and four from Ghana to Mexico, have taken place.

Bilateral trade started expanding to include new goods, while Mexican companies have shown interest in investing in Ghana, the Mexican Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs María De Los Ángeles Arriola Aguirre, said that in an exclusive interview on the celebrations with the <I>Daily Graphic<$>, at her office in Accra yesterday.

She was happy to announce that the Ghana-Mexico Business and Cultural Chamber had been formally launched and attributed that to the keen vision and efforts of both Mexico and Ghana to deepen their economic relations.

From Friday, September 15 till Sunday, September 17, the ambassador announced that the Labadi Beach Hotel would host the Second Mexican Food Festival with the presence of the young and successful Chef Diego Isunza, and the performance by Mariachi Sol de America.

She said, “As you all know, Mexican cuisine and mariachi music have been declared an intangible heritage to humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

During the last week of this month, she said, the embassy would host the Third Mexican Film festival at the Goethe Institute.
Mexico, she disclosed, had also been declared by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), as the eighth world main tourist destination in 2016, for receiving 35 million visitors from all over the world.

“Thanks to effective policies to promote tourism together with our rich diversity, characterised by the variety of climates, natural resources, beaches, historic, anthropologic and colonial cities, wonderful music, excellent food and our warm and friendly people, which all combined makes Mexico a great and unique destination,” she stated.

‘We hope that in the near future, more people living in Ghana will feel attracted to visit our country and enjoy the magic of Mexico,” she added.

Mrs Arriola Aguirre pointed out that another step forward was the South-South bilateral cooperation in the educational field.

She expressed the hope that as a result of the visit to Mexico by the University of Ghana, educational cooperation in areas of common interest such as academic exchanges, scholarships, research and technical collaboration will soon be established.

Every year, she noted, Ghanaian diplomats benefit from the academic programs offered by the Diplomatic School of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as members of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) andthe Bank of Ghana (BoG) from capacity building courses offered by the Mexican Ministry of Finance.

She said Ghanaian students could also benefit from the 2018 and subsequent editions of Mexico’s Scholarship Program and said she hoped to personally have the opportunity to sign their visas.

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Mexico Business Summit

Ambassador Arriola Aguirre announced that Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, would be heading a Ghanaian business delegation to participate in the 15th Edition of the Mexico Business Summit, the top-rated business forum in Latin America, which comes off next month.

Under the theme “Defining Mexico's Options” the summit will analyse the priorities for Mexico in the current international arena.

The annual summit will bring together leading business executives and investors from North America, Latin america, Asia and Europe.

“This prestigious private sector summit,” the ambassador noted, “is strongly supported by the Mexican government.”

In preparation for the Mexico Business Summit, the embassy yesterday organised a forum in Accra, which provided the opportunity for interested business executives/ investors in different areas to have some interaction with the Mexican Ambassador and Mr Kyerematen.

The business encounter provided the platform to explain the procedures involved in participating in the summit from the registration level through travel arrangements and the summit itself.

207th Independence Day

Ambassador Aguirre explained: “Mexico’s Independence Day (Día de la Independencia) is a Mexican holiday to celebrate the “Cry of Independence” that took place in September 1810, which started a revolt against the Spaniards.”

She said this followed the day of the Cry of Dolores (El Grito de Dolores).

The day itself, she noted, which emphasises the unity of the Mexican people, would, therefore, celebrate the day Miguel Hidalgo was believed to have made the Cry of Independence/ the Cry of Dolores (El Grito de la Independencia) in the town of Dolores, in the north-central part of the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

Hidalgo was one of the nation’s leaders during the War of Independence in Mexico.

There is no scholarly agreement on exactly what was said by Hidalgo, but his speech, also known as El Grito de Dolores, was made on September 16, 1810 to motivate people to revolt against the Spanish regime.

Hidalgo’s army fought against the Spanish soldiers in the fight for independence, but he was captured and executed on July 30, 1811.

This year’s celebration, which as usual will demonstrate Mexican food and music worldwide, will also include fireworks, parties (fiestas) and dance.

Flags, flowers and decorations in the colours of the Mexican flag <\a> red, white and green, will be seen in public areas in cities and towns in Mexico.

Whistles and horns are expected to be blown and confetti thrown to celebrate the festive occasion. "Viva Mexico" or "Viva la independencia” will be shouted amid the crowds during the celebration.

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