President Akufo-Addo presenting a gift to Ozlem Ergun Uluesen (left), Outgoing Turkish Ambassador to Ghana and Dr. Aissa Kirabo Kacyira, Outgoing Rwandan High Commissioner to Ghana. With them is Samuel Kumah, Director of Protocol.
President Akufo-Addo yesterday bid farewell to the representatives of the governments and people of Rwanda and Turkey in Ghana.
The two, Dr. Aissa Kirabo Kacyira, the Rwandan High Commissioner to Ghana and the Turkish Ambassador to Ghana, Ozlem Ergün Uluesen, took turns to present their farewell messages to President Akufo-Addo at the Presidency, Jubilee House.
Dr. Aissa Kirabo Kacyira described her three years duty tour of the country as a fruitful enterprise for her personally, and for Ghana-Rwanda relations.
During the period, she said Ghana and Rwanda signed a 10 memoranda of understanding (MoU) that went a long way to deepen the already strong relations that existed between the two countries.
She mentioned trade, education and tourism as having seen strong cooperation between the two countries during the period under review, with trade specifically increasing to about 45%.
Apart from that, she said Rwandan students have been coming to Ghana to further their education, just as Ghanaian students have also gone to Rwanda to access Rwandan education.
Rwanda, according to her, also took a cue from Ghana’s “Year of Return” and “After the Return” initiatives to improve and attract tourists to their country in a similar fashion as Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo, affirmed the fact that during the duty tour of High Commissioner Aissa Kirabo Kacyira, relations between Rwanda and Ghana improved greatly.
He commended the High Commissioner for her enviable achievement in Ghana and wished her well in her future assignments.
On her part, the Turkish Ambassador to Ghana, Ozlem Ergün Uluesen, expressed gratitude to the government and people of Ghana for the love showed Turkey during the recent earthquake that devastated the country and Syria.
She also praised the high increase in trade volumes between Ghana and Turkey in the last four years during which, she has been the Ambassador of her country to Ghana.
She also noted that some 550 Ghanaian students have been awarded scholarships to study in Turkey, and strong ties have been built between her country and the Tamale Technical University, which will soon see the university receiving various equipment and training from Turkish manufacturers and technical experts.
President Akufo-Addo expressed appreciation to the outgoing Turkish envoy for the active role she played in the diplomatic community in Ghana.
He noted that, the four-year duty tour of Ambassador Ozlem Ergün Uluesen saw a massive improvement of relations between Ghana and Turkey, and thus expressed hope that same will continue with whoever succeeds her.
He reiterated Ghana’s support for and solidarity with Turkey following the devastating earthquake that claimed over 50,000 lives, including that of the Ghanaian football international, Christian Atsu.
He noted that even though it has not been an easy period in the history of Turkey, they can be rest assured that they have the solidarity of Ghana and the rest of the world to deal with these challenging times.
President Akufo-Addo, after his meeting with the two envoys, presented the traditional parting gift of the state (the Wooden Gye Nyame Stool) to the two departing envoys.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu