Post Covid-19 Recovery: Prez Akufo-Addo to embark on three-nation working visit

Ghana's President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will on Sunday, May 16, 2021 leave the country for a nine-day official working visit to France, Belgium, and South Africa.

The visits are essential for the endeavors the President is making to reconnect with the remainder of the world, and advance Ghana, as a country with an amazing business-accommodating climate and brilliant monetary possibilities for the future," an statement by the Jubilee House on Thursday said.

This follows the global socio-economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

President Akufo-Addo is expected to attend a Summit on Financing African Economies in Paris, France on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.

The Summit, which is being convened by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, will bring together some African and European leaders, and heads of international financial institutions to devise strategies that will boost strong, inclusive recovery in Africa, whose economies have been hard hit by the effects of COVID-19.

According to the statement, whilst in Paris, President Akufo-Addo will hold bilateral discussions with the President of the World Bank, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, who will both be attending the Summit.

He will from Wednesday, May 19, at the invitation of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, be in Brussels, Belgium, to hold bilateral talks with the President and officials of the European Council, and meet with stakeholders committed to the partnership between Ghana and the European Union.

The talks between President Akufo-Addo and Mr Charles Michel are expected to centre on regional security, as well as on sustainability issues in the cocoa and fisheries sectors of Ghana, and their impact on relations between Ghana and the European Union.

The President will, in turn, meet with the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Dr. Werner Hoyer, and participate in the ceremony for the signing of a €160 million facility between EIB and the Ministry of Finance, towards the establishment of the National Development Bank.

He will attend an investor conference in Brussels on Ghana, and also hold a meeting with Ms. Jutta Urpilainen, the EU Commissioner on International Co-operation, to discuss issues relating to the COVAX Facility, which is currently supplying COVID-19 vaccines to Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo will on the last lap of his tour, address the Fourth Ordinary Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), scheduled to take place on Monday, May 24, 2021 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Deliberations of this Session will be guided by the African Union (AU) theme for 2021: “Year of the Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want.’’

The President will be accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Finance, and officials of the Presidency and the Foreign and Finance Ministries. He will be joined in Brussels by the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, and the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD.

He is expected to return to Ghana on Tuesday, May 25, 2021.