The Ghana Ambassador to Austria (middle), in a pose with some patrons of the event
GHANAIANS in the Diaspora have been urged to embrace who they are by way of boldly showing off their identity, culture and heritage wherever they find themselves.
Speaking at the maiden edition of the Renaissance of Culture event held in Vienna, Austria, Ghana’s Ambassador to Austria, Philbert Abaka Johnson, stressed on the need for Ghanaians, especially those in the Diaspora, to market the country through arts and culture in order to attract investors.
The Renaissance of Culture event, which hosted over 200 Ghanaians and other nationals, was aimed at demonstrating Ghana’s rich cultural heritage through its indigenous highlife music among other arts.
The event featured cultural displays from various parts of the country, acrobatics, as well as music performances by several musicians with the legendary Kaakyire Kwame Appiah as the lead artist.
The event also saw the exhibition of a food bazaar with the popular Ghana jollof on the menu and other made in Ghana products.
There was also a documentary titled: ‘’Destination Ghana’, an initiative launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the United Kingdom (UK) in April 2022 as part of efforts to put Ghana on the map and open its doors to people around the world to visit and invest.
In an interview with showbiz Global Concerts, organizers of the event, Kojo Amoh, explained that the event was a replica of series of events that had been organized in mainland Europe in countries such as Switzerland, Belgium etc. with the objective of promoting Ghana and made-in-Ghana products while pitching Ghana to the rest of the world as a tourism and business hub.
He noted that the event also sought to strategically position Ghana as a gateway to the entire African continent for interested individuals and organizations to come and invest.
Patrons of the event expressed appreciation to the organizers for taking them back to their roots and introducing the initiative as part of the Ghana month celebration which presented them with the opportunity to take stock of how far the country had come since independence.
They also appealed to the government to introduce and implement policies that would put the country back on track and turn the current economy crises around.
The event was put together in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) through its embassy in Austria under the patronage of H.E. Philbert Abaka Johnson; the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MoTAC); the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA); Diaspora Affairs of the Office of the President; the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) and Modex.