Ghana’s Minister-designate for Foreign Affairs And Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, is on an official visit to Qatar.
Madam Ayorkor Botchwey is expected to be in Qatar from 1st to 4th March, 2021.
Her visit to Qatar, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration informed African Entertainment, is principally, to deliver a Special Message from President Nana Akufo-Addo to His Highness the Emir of Qatar.
The message, the Ministry said, was geared towards consolidating the existing friendly ties between the two countries.
On Tuesday, March 2, 2021, she held bilateral talks with the Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
During the meeting, she congratulated her Qatari counterpart for the hard work and dedication he has personally invested towards improving the bilateral and multilateral relations between the State of Qatar and other countries.
Madam Ayorkor Botchwey mentioned that the visit had earlier been planned for October 2020 but had to be deferred owing to scheduling constraints.
She said the Government of Ghana appreciated the concrete steps taken by the two countries to strengthen diplomatic ties following the reciprocal visit of their two heads of state, particularly the inauguration of a weekly Qatar Airways flight to Accra, despite the constraints posed by the raging pandemic.
The Minister-designate acknowledged the importance of the various MOUs signed between the two countries and noted that the agreements will foster strong ties between Ghana and Qatar.
She emphasized that the MOU relating to the framework for close partnership between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs will afford both countries the opportunity to hold regular consultations at least once every two years on bilateral relations and international issues of mutual interest.
She indicated that the Parliament of Ghana has duly ratified the Agreement on Mutual Visa Exemption for the Holders of Diplomatic and Special Passports between the two countries.
Consequently, she underscored that Ghana looked forward to receiving notice of ratification from the Government of Qatar to pave way for its operationalization.
She expressed gratitude to the Government of the State of Qatar for being a trusted and true friend of the Government and people of Ghana and affirm the commitment of Ghana to continue to work towards forging closer ties of friendship and cooperation with the State of Qatar.
Also, she thanked her counterpart for the contributions made by Qatar to Ghana’s national development including education, health care, energy, and donations to build mosques in the country as well as extension of food supplies to the Ghanaian community during the height of the pandemic.
She specifically mentioned
the assistance given to Ghana’s oil experts on their visit to Doha to understudy Qatar’s oil and gas revenue-monitoring architecture, noting that Ghana had been keenly following the implementation of Qatar’s 5-year Food Security Programme from 2018-2023, which has led to Qatar being ranked as the number one (1) food security country in the Middle East and 22nd Global Food Security Index.
She told her Qatari counterpart
that Ghana had embarked on an industrialization programme to improve the living standards of its citizens through its flagship programmes, notably, Planting for Food and Jobs, Free Senior High School, One District One Factory, One Village One Dam, infrastructural development, among others.
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