The Greek Government has donated about 150,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the Government of Ghana as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Political and Socio-Economic Cooperation between the two countries.
Greece Foreign Affairs, Minister Nikos Dendias disclosed this when he paid a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in Accra.
The visit is considered historic as it is the first time in the history of Ghana-Greek relations where a Foreign Minister Affairs from Greece has visited Ghana.
The Greek Foreign Affairs Minister urged Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey to reciprocate the gesture by visiting his country and extended the invite to President Akufo Addo.
Touching on the business and investment potential of Greek investors in Ghana, Dendias said “Greek business men have invested over $100m in businesses in Ghana already. We should try and put economic flesh to the backbone of our relations”.
“The purpose of my visit is also to open the way for Greek businessmen to invest and do more. I believe there is a lot we can do together. Africa will be the power house of the world and Ghana is already the power house of West Africa”, he emphasized.
For her part, Ghana’s Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey expressed delight at the level of Greek investments in Ghana.
“$100m in investment already and your visit here means we can increase that. Ghana hosts the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat and so investing in Ghana means investing in a potential 1.2bn African market that is expected to grow to 2bn by 2050. And so we hope the Greek businesses will continue to invest in West Africa which is a 350m market in the areas of Agriculture and Tourism”.
According to Madam Ayorkor Botchwey, Ghana can learn the best practices from Greece’s tourism sector to improve the its sector.
“Because you receive a lot of tourists in Greece, we would want to learn the best practices from you to grow our sector here in Ghana”.
“We hope that the MOU we also look at close political consultations which hopefully will turn into a permanent fully fledged joint commission so that we can look at moving from bilateral relations to multilateral cooperation to make this relationship very meaningful,” she said.
Story: Henry George Martinson@radiogoldlive.com
