President Akufo-Addo has left Ghana for a ten-day working visit to France, Guyana, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom.
A statement from the presidency indicated his first port of call will be Brest, France, where, at the invitation of French President, Emmanuel Macron, 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.
He will also at the invitation of the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Dr. Mohamed Irfan Ali, travel to Georgetown, Guyana to 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.
From there, the President will proceed 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 on the trip by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah; the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Kwaku Afriyie; and officials of the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.
He is expected back home in Ghana on Sunday, 20th February, 2022.
In his absence, Vice President Bawumia will act as President in accordance with the provisions of Article 60(8) of Ghana’s Constitution.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent