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 President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport. Also with him is Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia (right). Picture: Samuel Tei Adano
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport. Also with him is Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia (right). Picture: Samuel Tei Adano

President Akufo-Addo returns home after three-nation tour

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, returned home last Sunday night after a six-day visit to three West African countries — Togo, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

The trip had a three-pronged mission: to introduce himself to the people and leaders of the three countries as the new President of Ghana, interact with Ghanaians living in those countries and re-enforce Ghana’s position on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) project.

He was met on arrival at the Kotoko International Airport by the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and other state officials.

Briefing the media following the President’s arrival, the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, said President Akufo-Addo left Ghana on May 2, 2017 to start the three-nation tour that took him first to Togo.

Togo

He said in Togo, where he went by road, the President called for the 24-hour opening of the Ghana-Togo border, saying that would bring actualisation to the ECOWAS protocols on the free movement of goods and people.

He said President Akufo-Addo and the Togolese Leader, President Faure Gnassingbe, agreed to exploit resources in the northern part of their respective countries for the benefit of the people.

The Sogakope-Lome Water Project, he said, was another issue that came up, with the two leaders reaching the consensus that it should be expedited to be able to supply 80 per cent of its output to Lome.

Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, Mr Arhin said, there were three issues on top of the President’s agenda — the railway, agricultural development and water resources.

The President had declared in his campaigning that one of the highlights of his achievements in office would be the construction of a railway line from Accra to link the Upper West Region, Paga, to Burkina Faso.

In pursuance of that objective, President Akufo-Addo was accompanied by the Railway Minister on the trip to Burkina Faso to ensure that an agreement was drawn up to ensure that the required funding and technical needs were achieved to make the project a reality.

Mr Arhin said Presidents Akufo-Addo and Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso agreed to ensure that whenever water was spilled from the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso, it would not cause damage to lives, property, and especially, farmlands and livestock in Ghana.

Also, he said, an agreement had been reached to stem the tide of smuggling subsidised fertiliser from Ghana to Burkina Faso.

To address the Fulani herdsmen menace, Mr Arhin said, an agreement was reached for frequent consultations on how to end the menace.

By the end of 2017, the Bolgatanga-Ouagadougou power project would be completed to export 87 megawatts of power to Ouagadougou, he added.

Cote d’Ivoire

Top on the agenda in Cote d’Ivoire was the issue of cocoa and the two countries’ maritime boundaries, Mr Arhin said.

He said the two countries agreed to the drawing up of a strategic partnership agreement which would ensure that every year there would be a joint council of ministers to sit and discuss issues regarding price volatilities in cocoa.

He said the two countries produced about 65 per cent of the world’s cocoa but had no say when it came to pricing, leading to the agreement on the part of the two countries to set up a marketing mechanism to help them have a say in the pricing of cocoa.

Regardless of the outcome of the maritime border issue between the two countries at the Hague in the The Netherlands, Mr Arhin said, Presidents Akufo-Addo and Alassane Dramane Ouattara agreed that co-operation between the two countries would be unaffected.

On the issue of galamsey, he said, since the Bia and the Tano rivers flowed directly into Cote d’Ivoire but illegal mining had polluted them, it was agreed that the ministers in charge of mines in the two countries should meet to discuss issues and ensure that measures were instituted to counter the effects of illegal mining. 

Mr Arhin said a common theme that ran through President Akufo-Addo’s interactions with all three Presidents was the need  for African countries to become independent of foreign aid.

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