Ukraine has opened an embassy in Accra with an aim of consolidating its 32-year-old diplomatic ties with Ghana to yield mutually beneficial social, political and economic benefits for the citizens of both countries.
The mission would perform functions, including developing political contacts, strengthening economic and people-to-people ties, and providing consular services to Ukrainians and Ghanaians.
Located at Labone, the embassy is the third—after Democratic Republic of the Congo and Côte d’Ivoire— to be inaugurated in Africa this year in line with a move by Ukraine to expand its diplomatic presence on the continent.
In an interview before the event on Friday, Ukraine’s Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Maksym Subkh told the Ghanaian Times that Ghana approved the establishment of the mission about two years ago, but its opening was delayed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With the embassy now operational, he said Ukraine was keen on reviving and scaling up its trade and investment ties with Ghana as trade volume between the two countries had declined to about $30 million from around $300 million in 2022 due to the invasion.
Hailing Ghana’s potential for trade, he said, Ukraine was ready to leverage all opportunities; including the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to bolster trade and economic ties with Ghana and the rest of Africa.
Addressing guests at the event, Mr Subkh said although diplomatic ties between Ghana and Ukraine were established in 1992, historical connections, including visits by Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah to Ukraine during the Soviet era, laid a foundation for this partnership.
He said recent developments, such as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba’s visit to Accra in October 2022 and a significant meeting between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Nana Akufo-Addo at the World Economic Forum in Davos, last January, had propelled the cooperation to new heights.
He said discussions during these visits focused on advancing trade, agriculture, industry, energy, education, and technology projects beneficial to both nations.
Mr Subkh said Ukraine was ready to work together with Ghana to create an enabling business environment and provide top-quality goods and services at competitive prices while the embassy would facilitate market access for Ghanaian businesses, promote Ghanaian products.
On peace for Ukraine and security for the whole world, he said his country was organising a high level Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, to begin the process of developing a common peace framework for the restoration of sustainable peace.
“We are quite optimistic about the end of this brutal aggression. No war can last forever, and we should now start thinking about building our common future and enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation after the war”, he said.
On behalf of Ghana, a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, stated Ghana’s commitment to accelerate the diplomatic, economic, trade and investment ties between the two countries.
In view of this, he said Ghana would, in due course, take the necessary steps to establish a physical presence in Kiev, to further boost the levels of cooperation between the nations.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR
