David Cameron to visit Ghana

British Prime Minister David Cameron will in the course of the year visit Ghana to further strengthen the diplomatic ties between the United Kingdom and Ghana.

Mr Cameron announced this at a meeting with President John Dramani Mahama and a number of senior ministers at No. 10 Downing Street Friday morning.

The Ghanaian president was accompanied by Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh (MP), Trade Minister Haruna Iddrisu (MP), Finance Minister Seth Terkper and Ghana’s High Commissioner to UK, Prof. Kwaku Danso-Boafo.

Mr. Cameron said his decision to visit Ghana was in part, a recognition of Ghana’s status as an “island of peace and stability.”

He expressed London’s desire to foster closer collaboration with the Ghanaian government on regional security issues especially in the wake of the devastation wreaked on parts of Nigeria by Boko Haram as well of the ravaging of villages in Mali by Al-Qaeda affiliated groups.

The meeting also focused on commerce and the need to deepen transparency and accountability in the area of taxation in Ghana.

On commerce, the British Prime Minister spoke about plans of British oil giant Tullow Oil, which is operating in the Jubilee Oil Fields at the Cape Three Points in the Western Region of Ghana, to ratchet up its production development strategies.

Meanwhile, Rt. Hon. David Cameron has lauded Ghana's swift economic progress over the last few years, becoming the eighth fastest growing economy in the world.

Speaking to the media before a meeting with President John Mahama at No. 10 Downing Street, Mr. Cameron said his country is looking forward to enhancing its cooperation and collaboration with Ghana in the areas of bilateral trade and investment.

He also praised Ghana's role in regional security issues citing the Malian crisis as an example.

Economic partnership with Britain

On his part, President Mahama noted that he is looking for beneficial partnerships with countries like Britain as Ghana prepares to transit from a lower middle income country to middle income.

President Mahama said he is happy to take part in the G8 summit being hosted by the United Kingdom which will look at Tax, Trade, Transparency and the Extractive Industry.

According to him, with Ghana's nascent oil and gas industry, the focus of the summit will be beneficial to moving the sector forward, assuring Mr. Cameron of the security of British investments in Ghana.

He revealed that government had given approval for Tullow Oil’s production development project.

According Mr Mahama, his government was committed to issues of world trade and taxation which are to be discussed at the G-8 Summit Saturday, June 15, 2013.

On regional security, he said Ghana was working towards becoming the centre for the collation of maritime data to help deal with the surging menace of piracy.

The president appealed for further technical support to combat the illicit drug trade beyond Operation Westbridge which was instituted largely with the support of the UK at the Kotoka International Airport.

The system helped reduce the incidence of drug couriers using the Airport to export drugs out of Ghana.