President Akufo-Addo welcoming President Ramaphosa at the Jubilee House.
Ghana and South Africa have sealed a deal for the establishment of a Bi-National Commission.
The deal was signed at the Jubilee House, the seat of government, in Ghana’s capital, Accra, on the sidelines of the working visit of South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, signed the agreement on behalf of Ghana while Dr. Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Co-operation signed on behalf of South Africa.
The Bi-National Commission will seek ways and means to enhance co-operation in the various sectors of government and to co-ordinate and facilitate contact between the public and private sectors of the two countries.
The commission will establish a framework within which the parties may conduct their relationship and set out the modalities and institutional mechanisms of co-operation.
The commission shall per the agreement be chaired jointly by the Presidents of the two countries or their authorised representatives in line with the accepted diplomatic protocol.
Structure
It shall consist of senior government representatives of the parties in the various sectors of co-operation agreed upon for the achievement of the commission’s objectives and adopt its own rules of procedure.
There would be the establishment of Sectoral Committees when necessary, and public and private sector representatives may be invited to participate in meetings of Sectoral Committees or in other structures established by the committees in line with the agreement.
Sectoral Committees shall per the agreement adopt their own rules of procedure consistent with the rules of the commission and present reports of its meetings to the commission for approval.
Areas of co-operation include economic, cultural, scientific, technical, social and other areas that may be identified by the parties.
Mr. Ramaphosa arrived in Ghana on Wednesday night for a two-day working visit.
BY Melvin Tarlue