The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, H. E. Olaf Sholz have on Tuesday, 31st October, 2023, met to discuss and reaffirm already robust ties of friendship and cooperation existing between the two countries.
Speaking to the press following high-level bilateral talks between the two countries on the occasion of a two-day State Visit to Ghana by Chancellor Olaf Sholz, President Akufo-Addo, said the talks focused primarily on issues of trade, migration and the growing spate of instability, that has in recent times marred a hitherto increasingly pro-democratic sub-Saharan region and counts as the third from a high-ranking German official, within the space of only eight months.
“On 12th December 2017, Ghana was privileged to play host to the Deutsche Bundes President, my good friend, who was German Foreign Minister at the same time as I was Ghanaian Foreign Minister. And on 30th August, 2018 Chancellor Angela Merkel visited our shores. Today the 9th German Chancellor since 1949, is our guest in Ghana, President Akufo-Addo recalled.
Therefore, he continued, “Ghana and I are honoured, that two successive German Chancellors, and a German President, have visited our country during my tenure of office. We can safely conclude from this, that Ghana is indeed doing something right under President Akufo-Addo.”
He said, “in so many areas of Ghanaian national life, we have appreciated the cooperation of Germany, especially in the areas of energy efficiency, with development of renewables, and the development of our transmission infrastructure. These are areas where we’ve been benefitting greatly from German technology and assistance.
Referencing the G20 compact with Africa, the President said “it has also been a very beneficial and valuable source of cooperation between our two countries, and we intend to be in Berlin in the latter parts of November, for the conference that Chancellor Scholz is organising over the compact with Africa.”
He also touched on German support towards needed reforms at the United Nations, especially at the Security Council saying, “I think 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, and a classic example is what is happening over in the Ukraine conflict, where the nation that is the aggressor is also the veto wielding country which is blocking any initiatives that the Security Council can take over the conflict.”
Key amongst the discussions was prevalent issues on global peace which included Ghana’s strong stance in the denunciation of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, where he said, “greater and greater efforts should be made, to seek the possibility of a resolution of the conflict because it has important international implications for us, hence the need to be able to make sure that, as quickly as possible, we restore peace.”
“The same way, we were very clear and vocal in our condemnation of the attack on Israel on the 7th of October by the Hamas organization, and recognise fully Israel’s right to protect itself and defend itself, but at the same time, you look at the humanitarian consequences of what is going on over there, there’s clearly a need for all of us, the global community, to look beyond the immediate issues of the consequences of the Hamas attacks on Israel, to be looking at the possibility of a comprehensive settlement of this matter, he also stated.
He was quick to add that, “it is not possible for us to have a ten-year circle of vengeance and vendettas in the Middle East, unless concerted effort is made by all of us to see how we can fashion an understanding based on the true state of issues.”
Expressing confidence in the budding population of confident young people in Ghana, Chancellor Olaf Sholz, said he has no doubt the next generation has what it takes to continue the parts of development and innovation for Ghana.
He said, “innovation is also the building block of the future of our countries, and is also the cornerstone of our relations. Ghana with its excellent universities is our key partner in Africa for Science and Research,” and was happy to note that the high-level business delegation found a lot of areas of cooperation to work within.