Ghana and Bulgaria have agreed to deepen and strengthen cooperation in the fields of social, economic, political, cultural and scientific cooperation with the view of improving the standards of living of their peoples.
To that end, the two countries, have resolved to cooperate not only at the bilateral level, but also at the multilateral level through various international forums such as the United Nations, the African Union, and the European Union, among others, as a way of deepening and strengthening the long standing relations between the two countries.
These were among issues discused between the Bulgarian President, Mr. Georgi Parvanov and Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Nana Akufo-Addo, MP, during a three-day official visit by the Foreign Minister to Sofia, capital of Bulgaria.
Commending Ghana’s invaluable contribution towards finding lasting solutions to the respective peace processes on the African continent, the Bulgarian President drew a parallel of that role by Ghana with those of Bulgaria’s in the Western Balkans which had for the past decade remained a politically volatile region.
President Parvanov observed that Ghana’s 50th independence anniversary had coincided with her chairmanship of the African Union, as well as her quest for lasting peace on the African continent. He applauded Ghana’s adherence to democratic values and expressed the desire to receive President John Agyekum Kufuor to Sofia anytime he was ready to visit Bulgaria.
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Nana Akufo-Addo congratulated Bulgaria on her accession to the European Union, acknowledging that it was no mean a feat. Nana Akufo-Addo noted that the nearly fifty years of relations between Ghana and Bulgaria which was at its peak in the early sixties, slumped after the 1966 coup that overthrew the first President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. He invited Bulgarian investors to avail themselves of Ghana’s stable political and investment-friendly environments to invest in various sectors of Ghana’s economy.
The two countries have signed and exchanged a “Protocol for Establishment of Bilateral Consultations” at the diplomatic level. The Protocol which was initialed by Nana Akufo-Addo on behalf of Ghana, and Mr. Ivaylo Kalfin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, would serve as the basis for effective bilateral consultations between the two countries with the view to promoting their mutual interests both at the regional and global levels.
The two Foreign Ministers discussed issues of mutual and global concern ranging from political, economic and trade, to cultural. The peace process on the African continent, the impending EU/Africa Summit in Lisbon, as well as the situation in Serbia’s southern province of Kosovo, featured prominently in their discussions.
Nana Akufo-Addo assured his Bulgaria counterpart that his presence in Sofia was an indication of Ghana’s determination to rekindle the once vibrant relations between Ghana and Bulgaria, which has witnessed a slump after the overthrow of President Nkrumah.
Nana Akufo also met the Foreign Relations Committee of the 240-member Bulgarian National Assembly and brought up the possibility of forging links between the National Assemblies of the two countries.
Nana Akufo-Addo has since left Sofia on the next leg of his journey to Russia. He was joined in Sofia by Ghana’s ambassador accredited to the Republic of Bulgaria, Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe.
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