President Mahama says visit to France useful
President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday announced that his meeting with President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris was useful and beneficial and the fruit of the historic visit would soon manifest.
He said “France is now looking forward to investing beyond its colonial borders and Ghana stands a greater chance of benefitting from their investment as over 90 French Companies are now doing business in Ghana.”
President Mahama, who was speaking to journalists after his closed-door meeting with the French President, said apart from investment, Ghana was also learning from France, the massive earnings they were reaping from their tourist sites.
The visit formed part of President Mahama’s three-day official visit to the European country, where he had earlier on visited Dassault Systems, Techniq, La Francophonie and the Louvre Museum to consolidate business discussions.
Although they were supposed to hold a joint-news conference to explain some of the measures and agreements they had designed for the coming years, it was rained off after the end of the closed-door meeting.
He said Mr Seth Terkper, Ghana’s Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, had also signed some agreements with the French Minister for Development in Paris to concretize some of the cooperation programmes the two countries had penciled down over the years.
President Mahama said another major discussion he held with his counterpart was government’s determination to prioritize the development and learning of French in Ghana, as she was surrounded by French-speaking countries.
He said although, Ghana as a country had identified lack of French teachers as a major setback to the priority, his French counterpart and La Francophonie, an international Paris-based organization, had agreed to provide technical assistance to enhance the teaching and learning of French in Ghana.
“We shall soon sign an agreement with all those bodies for them to provide technical support that will enhance the teaching and learning of French in our schools,” President Mahama added.
On Tourism, President Mahama said although government was pre-occupied with the provision of basic amenities for Ghanaians at all the corners of the country, government would make conscious efforts at promoting national cultural activities that would attract tourists and increase earnings through that sector.
“With my visit to the Museum here, I have learnt that over 10 million people visit this site every year and it is a call to action to preserve our cultural activities and monuments to attract tourists,” the President indicated.
He commended President Hollande for his one-year anniversary in office as the President of France and gave the assurance that they would continue to work closely with France for mutual benefit in the coming years.
President Hollande stated that France shared common values of good governance and democracy with Ghana and would therefore strengthen other economic and diplomatic ties that would bring major insurrection in their economies and socio-cultural development.
He commended President Mahama and the entire Ghanaian government for their rapid response in contributing troops to Mali that France was fighting to restore peace and decency after their political skirmishes
Source: GNA