President looks forward to increasing ties with Mauritius
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says he looks forward to the activation of a number of bilateral agreements signed between Ghana and Mauritius to boost the economy of the two countries.
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He said former President John Dramani Mahama paid a visit to Mauritius last year during which a number of agreements were signed, but not much had been seen by way of their outcomes.
“So far, we have not really seen much progress, and I think it’s important that we try and do so in activating some of these accords that exist between us so that we can get concrete results”, the President said.
He said this when the Mauritius President, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim paid a courtesy call on him at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday.
She was met at the airport by Vice-President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
President Gurib-Fakim, while here in Ghana, is expected to witness the launch of the John Doe Fellowship that aims at providing the youth with working skills.
She co-chairs that fellowship with former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
Ghana-Mauritius
President Akufo-Addo said Ghana recognised the Mauritius economy as a very successful and important one in Africa and expressed the belief that many Ghanaians could benefit from the country’s relationship with Mauritius.
The President recounted that former President Kufuor, during his term as President, took the decision to step up relations with Mauritius in 2003 when he (Nana Akufo-Addo) was the Foreign Affairs Minister.
Former President Kufuor, he said, had undertaken an ambitious project to seek the assistance of Mauritius in making Ghana an offshore financial centre, which started but was not firmed up before his government left office.
The President said there was so much that could happen between the two countries and one of the key people who could help in facilitating things in that direction was former President Kufuor.
“We have no doubt that at the centre of Africa’s attempt to modernise and develop, is education. It is the centrepiece of our thinking even in the political documents, our manifesto that we have put out, education, especially science, technology and innovation, are at the very centre of the vision of what can happen to Ghana,”he said.
President Gurib-Fakim
For her part, President Gurib-Fakim said the launch of the fellowship would be one of the catalysts needed to kick-start the empowerment of the youth of the continent through building their talents, potential and empower them with the necessary tools.
The main resources of the continent, she said, rested with “the youth and the human capital that we have the responsibility to empower so that we create an Africa that we want.”
Her presence in Ghana, she said, was also intended to promote the bilateral relations between the two countries recalling an initiative such as the one to enhance mobility between Ghana and Mauritius through a ‘no visa’ policy.
She said that initiative was an important step to promote mobility on the continent where citizens from the two countries could move to and fro the two countries with each other’s passports without any problems.
