Negotiation between Ghana and La Cote d’Ivoire to settle a maritme dispute over oil-rich areas in the Gulf of Guinea is progressing steadily, a government official has stated.

Speaking to journalists after a round of negotiation in Accra on Thursday, April 24, Barbara Serwaa Asamoah, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said Ghana’s delegation to Abidjan last year was offered “a very good treatment” and that “friendly” and “brotherly” gesture is being reciprocated in Accra.

Ghana and La Cote d’Ivoire had been involved in the dispute after the latter’s discovery of oil last year.

The oil-rich C-100 maritime space offshore La Cote d’Ivoire is said to contain two billion barrels of oil and 1.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

As a result of the proximity of the site to Ghana’s Jubilee Field, the English-speaking country considered taking the matter to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

End by June

But after agreeing on the establishment of a joint maritime and boundary commission, both countries made conscious attempt to settle the dispute.

The commission’s technical committee has since met eight times. It is expected to bring negotiations to an end by June this year.

“We hope that [Barbara Asamoah] and myself will lead our delegation to the point said by our heads of state to reach an understanding of how the area should be delineated by June this year,” resolved La Cote d’Ivoire’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Adama Toungara.

Representing Ghana, Ms Asamoah assured that negotiations are going on well and a satisfactory agreement will soon be reached.

“I can assure you that they are satisfied with the treatment that we have given them. There has not been any tension whatsoever, not even a misunderstanding, in the course of the negotiation.”