President advocates comity of nations


President John Mahama has advocated the need for the comity of nations to heighten and strengthen their collaboration to effectively fight the scourge of terrorism.

President Mahama stated that it is going to take international cooperation and solidarity to deal with terrorist acts, pointing out that no country could single-handedly successfully confront the terrorism threat.

The President was interacting with the out-going Algerian Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Larbi Karti at the flagstaff in Accra.

Mr. Karti was at the Flagstaff House to bid President Mahama farewell after a five-year duty tour in Ghana.

Also at the Presidency to bid farewell was the Czech Ambassador to Ghana, Miloslav Mechelek.

President Mahama recalled the recent suicide bombings in Nigeria by Islamist group Boko Haram, using children, and described the phenomenon as “unacceptable”, coupled with the killings, maiming and beheadings in other parts of the world by religious extremists.

As the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Governments, President Mahama acknowledged the tremendous support from the Algerian government in resolving the Malian crisis.

President Mahama expressed appreciation to the Algerian government for offering scholarships to several Ghanaian students to study in that country.

He hinted that various agreements between Ghana and Algeria under the Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation are  being studied by the relevant ministries, and expressed the hope that it would be signed soon.

For his part, Mr. Karti noted that there had been high-level visits between the respective Ministries for Foreign Affairs.

He hoped that bilateral cooperation between the two countries would be given a further boost.

When Mr. Mechelek of the Czech Republic took his turn, President Mahama noted that the issue of establishing a tram service for the Accra Metropolis was one of the key issues discussed when he visited that country in 2010.

He said the envisaged project will materialize after a feasibility study into it was concluded.

President Mahama noted that the Kumasi shoe factory was also one of the fall-outs of his visit to the Czech Republic. He said the revival of the factory has proved successful, as a significant number of boots for the security agencies are processed from there.

He gave the assurance that the government would now turn its attention to revive other moribund industries that the Czech helped Ghana to establish years back such as the Abosso Glass Factory to reduce the nation’s import of glasses.

President Mahama noted that the Czechs have a comparative advantage when it comes to power generation and distribution, agro-processing and industry.Mr. Mechelek described the Kumasi shoe factory project as a good chapter in relations between Ghana and the Czech Republic.

The project being a viable one, he noted that it would create employment avenues for lots of people.

He lauded Ghana for maintaining a politically and socially stable atmosphere in the five years that he had been working in the country.

Mr. Mechelek also commended President Mahama for his efforts at bringing peace and stability to the sub-region as ECOWAS Chair.

GBC