Ghana reinforces ties with Japan …sign more cooperation agreements

the training of young administrative o cials in Japan. Additionally, the sturdy development of Phase II of the project for the improvement of the Tema Motorway Roundabout, that serves as the junction of major Highways including the Abidjan-Lagos corridor which is critical for the development of the West African sub-region has also been re-afrmed.

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the visit of the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida to Ghana has taken the already robust bilateral, political and economic relations as well as the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries a notch further.

This visit, which is the rst of a Japanese Prime Minister since Junichiro Koizumi visited Ghana some Seventeen (17) years ago in 2006, when President Akufo-Addo was Foreign Minister, saw Ghana and Japan exchange notes for the Enhancement of Rice Seeds Production Capacity in Ghana and on the Human Resource Development Scholarship to support

Japan will also o er USD 500 million of support over the next three years to augment Ghana’s e orts through the Accra Initiative and other endeavours to secure peace and stability, of the Sahel region and the coastal states of the Gulf of Guinea.

Speaking after a very productive bilateral session, President Akufo-Addo, said, birthed as far back as 1927 when Dr. Hideyo Noguchi ar- rived on the shores of the then Gold Coast to conduct research on Yellow Fever, relations between the two countires have witnessed countless successful strategic partnerships and co-operation with the street in front of the Japan Embassy in Accra, “named the Dr. Hideyo Noguchi Street, upon my instructions, in addition to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research located at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, in memory of that illustrious son of Japan and in appreciation of the continued generosity of the good people of Japan to Ghana.”

Throughout this period, he continued, Ghana has been a “great admirer of the Japanese model of Development and of Japan’s technological advancement and I informed the Prime Minister, we were benetting from his country’s wealth of knowledge and ex- perience to boost our own development.”

Thus, this evening, he added, “we have discussed at length how to boost further our political and economic relations, cultural and people to people exchanges as well as our cooperation at the multi-lateral level.”

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Ghana on Monday, 1St May, 2023 on the second leg of an African tour which begun in Egypt and will see him visit Kenya and Mozambique.

The two leaders, whose countries occupy non-permanent member positions at the United Nation’s Security Council agreed to pursue key reforms to “re ect the changing circumstances of the world from 1945, when the composition and structure of the Security Council was established by the victorious powers of the second world war.”

Consistent with Ghana’s position on Russia’s war, President

Akufo-Addo maintained that, “as the rst country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain our independence from the shackles of colonialism and imperialism, Ghana became one of the ve initiators of the historic non-aligned movement. His-

It is a position we will continue to hold and that is why during the voting in the United Nation’s General Assembly, Ghana voted in favour of the motion condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Great powers, trampling on new and small nations and violating international law, are not things we welcome within our modest means, we will register our disapproval of them.”

Describing Ghana as a Ghana is a major economic hub of West Africa and an important partner with whom Japan shares fundamental values and principles such as democracy and rule of law, Premier Fumio Kushida, explained that, “the purpose of this visit to Ghana is to directly listen to the voices of Africa and to re ect such feedback in the discussions to take place at the G7 Hiroshima Summit.”

He said, Japan “has con rmed the importance of business and investment promotion between Ghana, the lynchpin of the West African economy, and Japan. Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki are