The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, yesterday arrived in the Angolan capital, Luanda, to begin a two-day official visit to that country.
The visit, the first by a sitting Ghanaian president, was at the behest of the Angolan President, Joao Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.
The visit is expected to, among other things, strengthen further the longstanding diplomatic ties between the two countries and also explore new areas of co-operation.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was received at the Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda by the Minister for External Affairs, H.E. Manuel Domingos Augusto and a high-powered Angolan and Ghanaian delegation.
A military guard was mounted at the airport in honour of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Ghana and Angola have since February 1987 established a Permanent Joint Commission for Co-operation (PJCC), which has been the framework under which the two countries have been strengthening relations through focused bilateral co-operation.
The Angolan government has over the past few years intensified efforts at streamlining its bilateral co-operation with Ghana through the renegotiation of pending agreements in sectors such as agriculture, higher education and other areas of mutual co-operation.
The strive to engage Ghana forms part of the country’s strategy of external policy defined for engaging African governments and aimed at establishing more active diplomatic and trade ties with key countries on the continent.
Having emerged from a disastrous civil war that plagued the country for over two decades, the Angolan economy has achieved an impressive economic growth rate driven by its huge oil and gas resources.
As the second largest producer of oil in Africa, and with reserves of some 658 million barrels of oil in its Koambo fields, oil production and its supporting activities contribute to about 50 per cent of the country’s national gross domestic product.
Whilst in Angola, President Akufo-Addo would also hold bilateral talks with his Angolan counterpart and address a special sitting of the National Assembly to be addressed by the President of the National Assembly, Fernando Da Piedade Dias Dos Santos.
President Nana Addo will also interact with the Ghanaian and Angolan business communities, and lay a wreath at the memorial of Dr António Agostinho Neto, the first President of Angola.
Accompanying the President on the trip were the Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu; Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, MP; the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, MP; Deputy Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, MP; and officials of the presidency.
Source: The Finder
