The Saudi Arabian envoy to Ghana, Meshal Alrogi, has highlighted the longstanding relations between the two countries which according to him dates back to a couple of years after the latter’s independence from Great Britain on March 6, 1957.
The bond of friendship between the two countries, he added, “grew steadily since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1960.”
The envoy made the remarks when he hosted the Manager of the University of Ghana, Legon campus radio, Radio Univers, Dr. Abubakar Siddique last week.
The factors that underpinned this growth most importantly, he noted, has been the yearly pilgrimage, which thousands of Ghanaians embark upon, and scholarships for eligible Ghanaian students to study in various disciplines in the universities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Continuing, he pointed at the exchange of highly profiled governmental state visits through delegations led by the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and the Saudi Minister of State for African Affairs Ahmad Al-Kattan.
Discussing possible areas of developmental cooperation between the two states, he identified sectors such as agriculture, oil and gas, tourism and education. These areas, he said, are very promising sectors the two countries need to enhance efforts in to ensure mutual growth.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), he disclosed, has supported many infrastructural projects in Ghana such as the expansion and rehabilitation of the Bolgatanga Hospital.
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief) has also made donations of medical equipment as well as an annual donation of 50 tonnes of date fruits to Ghana among other gestures. In his concluding remarks, the Ambassador expressed his delight to see much infrastructural progress in Ghana as compared to the first time he was posted as a young diplomat to the embassy as first secretary in 1996.
He expressed his appreciation for the hospitality granted him so far since 2019, and was also optimistic that strengthening bilateral relations between Ghana and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia could attract more developmental cooperation for the mutual benefit of both countries.
By A.R. Gomda