The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, yesterday commenced his two-day official visit to Ghana at the Jubliee House.
He was welcomed on arrival by President Akufo-Addo at the forecourt of the Jubilee House where he was ushered in to inspect a guard of honour mounted by the Ghana Armed Forces.
The two leaders subsequently retired to hold bilateral talks behind closed doors.
The Chancellor and his delegation are in the country as part of a two-nation official visit to West Africa.
High on the agenda are the twin issue of migration flows and insecurity in West Africa as well as energy security.
At a joint press conference after the meeting, President Akufo-Addo announced further cooperation with Germany.
He said Ghana cherished the state to state with Germany and this relationship did not depend on which party was in government either in Germany or Ghana.
The President said the visit was to reaffirm the ties of friendship and cooperation that existed between the two countries.
He said Ghana appreciated the cooperation of Germany in so many areas of her national life, especially in the areas of energy efficiency, the development of renewables and development of transmission infrastructure.
In addition to this, President Akufo-Addo noted that under the G20 compact for Africa had been beneficial and valuable source of cooperation for the two countries.
He said apart from economic matters, their meeting also focused on issues of migration, problems of instability in parts of West Africa and the Sahelian Region.
He said the two countries shared a common view on how they could work together to restore democracy to the countries that had recorded coup d’tats and strengthen democratic developments in West Africa as a whole.
“We are looking forward to working together to promote the reform of the United Nations especially the security council. At least we have all seen in recent times that the council in many ways is not fit for purpose in dealing with questions to do with international peace and security,” he emphasised.
President Akufo-Addo said a classical example of such was what was happening in the Russian Ukraine conflict where the aggressor was also a veto wielding country, and blocking any initiatives that the Security Council could take over the conflict.
“So clearly there is a need for all of us to rethink how the future will be,” he stressed.
He said Ghana continued to be strong in her denounciation of Russia’s aggression over Ukraine, however, it believed that at the same time, great efforts should be made to see the possibility of a resolution to the conflict, since it has important international implementation for Ghana.
“In the same way we have been very clear and vocal in our condemnation of the attack on Israel on October 7, by Hamaz Organisation and recognise fully Israel’s right to protect itself and defend itself.
But at the same time, if you look at the humanitarian consequences of what is going on there, there is clearly a need for all of us the global community to look beyond the immediate issues of the consequences of Hamaz attacks on Israel to be looking at the possibility of a comprehensive settlement of this matter,” he emphasised.
President Akufo-Addo denounced the situation of a 10 year cycle of vengence and vendetta in the Middle East and called for a concerted effort to see how the world fashion, an understanding based on the two states.
Chancellor Scholz on his part, noted that Germany recognised a lot of potential in Ghana and was ready to forge more and closer collaboration for the mutual benefits of the two countries.
He said Ghana’s commitment on the global stage was one that was very critical and important not just for her people but the whole African Continent.
Chancellor Scholz said African countries must have good representation on international bodies, stressing that “Germany supports Africa having a permanent seat on the Security Council.”
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
