The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey (MP) has met with the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent, Mr. Ralph Gonsalves and Foreign Ministers of Dominican Republic, Azerbaijan and Serbia in New York. The meetings were held respectively on the sidelines of the on-going 73rd United Nations General Assembly, aimed at deepening bilateral relations between Ghana and these countries.
Saint Vincent
Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said Ghana would want to strengthen bilateral relations with Saint Vincent. She indicted that Ghana has embarked on programmes aimed at industrializing its economy and would like to export some of its products to the Caribbean, especially Saint Vincent.
The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent, Mr. Ralph Gonsalves, for his part said Accra and Kingstown stand to gain a lot if the two nations collaborated politically and economically. He promised to visit Ghana before the end of the year. Ghana and Saint Vincent are all members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group (ACP).
Dominican Republic
Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey also met with her counterpart from the Dominican Republic, Mr. Miguel Octavio Vargas. The discussions between the two Foreign Ministers were aimed at strengthening bilateral ties between Ghana and the Caribbean Island.
Republic of Azerbaijan
Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey held bilateral talks with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Mr. Elmar Maharram Oglu. She called for closer ties between Ghana and Azerbaijan and she wished Azerbaijan well as the country seeks support to host the 2025 World Expo. The two Foreign Ministers touched on issues of mutual interest.
Republic of Serbia
Hon. Ayorkor Botchwey also held bilateral talks with the Serbian Foreign Minister, Mr. Ivica Dacic. The meeting was held at the Serbia Permanent Mission in New York.
The Serbian Foreign Minister indicated that the decision to move the venue for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral relations between Accra and Belgrade to the Permanent Mission was because that was the place where Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Former President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito met to kickstart the Non-Aligned Movement.
He said “this table was the very one, President Nkrumah and Tito used to initial an agreement to fight against the polarization of the world on ideological lines between the east and the west in the 1960s”. The Serbian Prime Minister, Madam Ana Brnabic, also exchanged pleasantries with Hon. Ayorkor Botchwey.
©IPAB