Lionel Jospin Meets Kufuor Today

President John Agyekum Kufuor, who is on a ten-day official visit to France, will today meet with the French Prime Minister, Mr. Lionel Jospin.

He will also meet economic decision makers at MEDEF and address the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee. Cooperation and Francophony Minister Charles Josselin will host a dinner in his honour tonight at the Palais des Affaires Etrangeres (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

President Kufuor met President Chirac on Friday, and yesterday he travelled to Toulouse to visit Airbus and ATR assembly plants as well as the Regional Supervision Centre of France-Telecom.

He is expected to meet Mr. Christian Poncelet, the President of the Senate tomorrow and address a "Breakfast Lecture" at IFRI on the theme "Ghana and Africa: Leadership and Good Governance".

The official visit by President Kufuor, according to the French Embassy in Accra, "illustrates the closer ties taking shape between France and Ghana and their shared desire to strengthen their bonds of trust and partnership."

Ghana's inclusion in the priority solidarity zone in June 2000 is "helping to strengthen our bilateral civilian cooperation, principally devoted to the teaching of French (DGCID) and the infrastructure sector (AFD)."

President Kufuor's discussions with the French authorities will provide an opportunity to discuss - in addition to bilateral relations - the situation in Ghana, integration in West Africa and peacekeeping and development in Africa.

Sources close to the Ghanaian presidency say the President's France visit is one of the most intensive he has made since assuming office in January 2001.

Ghana's new Ambassador to France, Professor Owusu Sarpong is a very eloquent French speaker, having studied in France, and is expected to use his understanding of French culture to forge closer links between the two countries.