Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo have pledged to ensure effective border management systems to enhance security in the sub-region.
This was contained in a communique jointly signed at the end of the three-day Regional Conference on International Co-operation on Border Management and Security in Accra on Wednesday.
The Minister Delegate in Charge of African Integration, Côte d’Ivoire, Mr DjedjellahiriAlcide, signed that of Côte d’Ivoire, while the Minister Delegate in charge of African Integration and Burkinabe Abroad initialed for Burkina Faso.
The Chief Director of the Ministry of the InteriorMrs Adelaide Annor- Kumi, and Mr AkobiMessan, Secretary-General in charge of Security and Civil Protection signed for Ghana and Togo respectively.
The conference which was under the framework of the “Strengthening Border Security in Ghana” project being funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa and implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development was in collaboration with the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
The 14-points communique was based on the outcomes of the meeting which the security officials have agreed to implement in 2022.
In the communique, the parties committed to effective border management coordination which would include joint training, operations/patrolling, aligned Standard Operating Procedures, information sharing and digital databases.
They also committed to properly set up a Technical Working Group among the four countries within a well-defined legal framework.
The parties called on governments in the sub-region to provide adequate resources for border management and showed commitment to ensure the sustainability of border management strategies and policies.
Among other things the communique also recommended that, the parties develop an action plan guide in the mapping out of strategies and associated activities towards the achievement of both short and long-term goals.
Mrs Adelaide Annor-Kumi in her remarks stated that Ghana had been at the helm of affairs of issues relating to border management and expressed gratitude that the recommendations would help solve threats affecting border security in the sub-regions.
“We are grateful for your participation in this conference as well as all ministers who attended the meeting, it goes to show how we hold Ghana in high esteem when it comes to issues relating to Africa, specifically on the border management and security.
“I hope we go home as better technical persons than we came and we are looking forward to having more collaborations and better synergies as we move forward,” she added.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR AND CECILIA LAGBA
