President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, left Ghana, yesterday enplaned to begin a ten-day working visit to France, Guyana, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom.
President Akufo-Addo’s first port of call will be Brest, France, where, at the invitation of H.E. Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, he will participate in the One Ocean Summit, to be held on Friday, 11th February, 2022. Up to 40 world leaders are due to make “ambitious and concrete commitments” towards combating illegal fishing, decarbonising shipping and reducing plastic pollution at what is billed as the first high-level summit dedicated to the ocean.
Thereafter, the President will, at the invitation of H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, travel to Georgetown, Guyana, participate as a keynote speaker at the maiden International Energy Conference and Expo by Guyana to be held from 15th to 18th February, 2022. Ghana and Guyana are developing close working relations in the oil and gas sector.
Following the visit to Guyana, he will travel to Marburg, Germany, at the invitation of KENUP Foundation, to participate, together with Presidents Macky Sall and Paul Kagame of the Republics of Senegal and Rwanda respectively, at the presentation of the BioNtech modular production facility for MRNA vaccines on Wednesday, 16th February, 2022, towards a pan-African Project for the establishment of a vaccine manufacturing plant in Africa.
President Akufo-Addo will then travel to Paris, France, to meet with President Emmanuel Macron, together with other African Heads of State, on the security situation in the Sahel and Africa, in general, in the evening of 16th February, 2022. He will also participate in a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron and some Heads of State from the ECOWAS Region in the morning of 17th February 2022, to discuss the security situation in ECOWAS.
After this meeting, he will travel to Brussels, Belgium, to participate in the Africa Union-European Union (AU-EU) Summit to be held from 17th to 18th February, 2022, and then travel to the United Kingdom for a private visit.
The President was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; the Minister for National Security, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaah; the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Hon. Kwaku Afriyie; and officials of the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.
President Akufo-Addo will return to Ghana on Sunday, 20th February, and, in his absence, the Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, shall, in accordance with Article 60(8) of the Constitution, act in his stead.
