President Akufo-Addo in his capacity as chairman of the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC), has appealed to his colleague heads of state who are not members of the GGC to join the Commission in order to have a collective approach to fighting maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea region.
Speaking at the third extraordinary session of the Assembly of heads of state and governments of the Gulf of Guinea Commission at the banquet hall of the Jubilee House yesterday under the theme “Building a Safe, Secure, and Prosperous Gulf of Guinea Region for Sustainable development,” President Akufo-Addo said it would take collaboration on the part of the states located in the geographical space of the Gulf of Guinea to fight piracy and all other illegal activities at sea.
“For us to have an effective and a well-organized defense of the Gulf of Guinea region, the countries of the region must be encouraged to join the Commission so that collectively we can make a significant difference in maintaining maritime peace and security in the Gulf of Guinea region.
“Through well-coordinated collaboration and cooperation on matters of common interests amongst the members of the region, illegal activities at sea can be greatly reduced if not completely eradicated,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“Collaboration and cooperation amongst the states of the region are crucial because of the interconnectivity of maritime activities. Working together will enable us to build a safe, secure, and prosperous Gulf of Guinea region for sustainable development,” PresidentAkufo-Addo added.
In his statement, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the two-point agenda the summit will be discussing during the closed-door session will be “firstly, the issue of finding means of making our region a safe, secure, and prosperous one”.
“Secondly, deliberate on whether it is our collective interest to enlarge the Gulf of Guinea Commission so that we will have as member states all the coastal states of Western and Central Africa from Cape Verde to Angola instead of only the coastal states of the geographical Gulf of Guinea region from Cote d’Ivoire to Angola as is currently set out in the 2001 Treaty establishing the Gulf of Guinea Commission”.
If the summit agrees on the proposed agenda, President Akufo-Addo noted that “there will then be the need to amend the GGC Treaty to reflect this new development if it is so accepted.”
“It is important that we have some serious discussions on these items in order to come up with strategies geared towards strengthening peace and security and winning the fight against maritime related crimes in the region such as piracy, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, arms trafficking, pollution of the environment, smuggling, fuel and crude oil theft” President Akufo-Addo further remarked.
Outgoing Executive Secretary of the Gulf of Guinea Commission, Florentina Adenike Ukonga, in her address, noted that even though the commission has struggled to get the full collaboration and support of its current member states, under her three-year leadership, the commission has made good strides in the execution of its mandate.
She called on member states to make good their duty to contribute their various quotas to the Commission and to make it a point to attend all required meetings at all levels of the Commission.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, in her welcome address, observed that crimes at sea in the Gulf of Guinea is on the rise, however, she is confident that the summit will propose new ideas that will help member states of the Gulf of Guinea to arrest the phenomenon.
She congratulated the new leadership of the Commission, who are assuming office from today for the next three years, charging them to make the success of the GGC their utmost priority.
The Gulf of Guinea Commission is an international body, which was established by the Treaty signed in Libreville, Gabon, on 3 July 2001, comprising Angola, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe.
The Commission constitutes a framework of consultation among the countries of the Gulf of Guinea for cooperation and development, as well as for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts that may arise from the delimitation of borders and the economic and commercial exploitation of natural resources within the territorial boundaries, particularly in the overlapping Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of our States.
It constitutes a permanent Institutional framework for cooperation amongst the countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea in order to defend their common interest and promote peace and socio-economic development based on the bases of dialogue, consensus, ties of friendship, solidarity and fraternity.
The Gulf of Guinea Commission began operations in March 2007, with the establishment of its Executive Secretariat in Luanda, Angola. Cameroun and Democratic Republic of Congo joined the Gulf of Guinea Commission in 2008, and Ghana joined in 2017.
Membership of Gulf of Guinea Commission is open to other states in the Gulf of Guinea region for purposes of transforming the sub region into a Zone of Peace and Security.
