Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
The establishment of the Ukrainian Embassy in Accra has strengthened the long-standing bilateral and diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Ukrainian people.
August 1992, not long after Ukraine attained independence, marks the beginning of a remarkable history between Ghana and Ukraine.
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, made two trips to Ukraine while it was still a part of the USSR.
Ghana and the nation in Eastern Europe have historically had largely bilateral relations centered on political cooperation, which serves as a basis for understanding and cooperation.
Significant milestones have also occurred in the bilateral relations between the two nations, such as the working visit to Ghana in October 2022 by Mr. Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The signing of agreements on diplomatic staff training, investor-exporter collaboration, and pathways for cooperation in trade, education, defense, agriculture, and international affairs marked the event’s conclusion.
Before Russian full-scale military aggression in February 2022, Ukraine’s trade volume with Ghana reached more over $300 million.
A wide range of tasks will be carried out by the Ukraine diplomatic mission and the inauguration of the Ukrainian Embassy in Ghana, including fostering political relationships, bolstering trade and people-to-people links, and offering consular services to Ghanaians and Ukrainians.
The opening of the embassy in Accra, according to Dr. Maksym Subh, Ukraine’s Special Envoy to the Middle East and Africa, very much reflected on its willingness to develop bilateral contacts at all levels between Ukraine and Ghana. Subh and Mr. Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, joined Subh to officially commission the Embassy in Cantonment on Friday.
At the official opening and reception were members of the Diplomatic Corps as well as representatives from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
He said Ghana was not only a traditional friend with whom Ukraine had established diplomatic relations since 1992, but it also was a country with which Ukraine had achieved extraordinary cooperation in the political and trade spheres as well as at international forums, and that the dynamics of the relations had grown exponentially, especially in the last two years.
Dr Subh said with Ghana making impressive achievements towards attaining sustainable development with tremendous potential to be “the trade gateway of Africa”, Ukraine was ready to work with its Ghanian partners to create an enabling business environment that would build upon Ghana’s stable economic and political foundation and create jobs for citizens of both countries.
The Special Envoy of Ukraine to the Middle East and Africa said Ukraine looked forward to seizing every opportunity that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement could provide for expanding trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and all African states.
He said there was still significant untapped potential for further expansion and diversification and that Ukraine manufacturers and exporters were ready to offer Ghana high-quality goods and services at very competitive costs.
He noted that Ukraine in the past few years had worked to prepare for the opening of a land market with several important draft laws already adopted and that digital technologies, such as electronic land (e-land) registries and electronic services (e-services) continued to play an important role in the process.
Mr Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, said Ghana continued to demonstrate its unwavering support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including joining UN General Assembly Resolutions to condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
“Our participation in the online International Crimea Platform Summit on 23rd August 2022 underscores our solidarity with Ukraine in addressing the ongoing occupation of Crimea,” he stated.
The Deputy Minister said trade relations between Ghana and Ukraine had been rejuvenated, particularly with the visit of a Ukrainian trade delegation in April 2018 where areas, including agriculture, transportation, industrial equipment, and telecommunications were discussed, paving the way for enhanced economic collaboration.
He noted that economic and trade relations between Ghana and Ukraine had shown promising signs, with Ghana exporting significant commodities such as manganese, aluminum ore, and cocoa powder to Ukraine.
Conversely, Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said, Ukraine had supplied Ghana with hot-rolled iron bars, raw iron bars, and cold-rolled iron, adding that those exchanges laid a foundation for deeper economic cooperation between the countries.
“However, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has disrupted these trade dynamics, impeding progress towards meaningful strategic outcomes. Despite these challenges, Ghana remains committed to exploring avenues for enhancing bilateral relations once stability is restored in the region,” he stated.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
