President back home

PRESIDENT J. A. Kufuor returned home on Saturday afternoon from Coolum where he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The President, on his way home from Australia, made a stopover in Abuja, Nigeria, where he commissioned a memorial centre in honour of the late Shehu Musa Yara-Adua, a Nigerian statesman.

Mr Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Foreign Minister; Joshua Hamidu, National Security Advisor, and Miss Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State in the office of the President, accompanied him.

Briefing journalists on arrival, President Kufuor described the CHOGM as very successful in content and patronage, adding that it was attended by 36 Heads of State, including all African Members of the Commonwealth with the exception of Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone.

He said the meeting deliberated on issues bothering on the cooperation and development of the Commonwealth member states, the position of the Commonwealth within the world trade organisation as well as global terrorism.

The President said a lot of goodwill was expressed about Africa, especially the New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) initiative. The document is to be taken to the forthcoming G8 Summit.

He said two members of the G8, Canada and UK, who are also members of the Commonwealth, have indicated their intention to support the NEPAD decision when the document is brought to the G8 Summit.

President Kufuor left Coolum for Sydney where he joined the Ghanaian community, with a population of about 5,000, to celebrate Ghana’s 45th Independence anniversary.

From Sydney, President Kufuor flew to United Kingdom where he held discussion with Queen Elizabeth on diverse issues, including economic, political and social advancement of Ghana.

President Kufuor expressed his surprise about the depth of knowledge the Queen had about Ghana and she urged the President to continue to give the needed quality leadership to move Ghana forward.

Mr Owusu Agyeman noted that President Kufuor was very instrumental in helping CHOGM arrive at a decision not to sanction Zimbabwe until after the report of the election.

He said due to Ghana’s democratic credential, he had sent a three-member observer team to Zimbabwe at the request of that country. Mr Owusu Agyeman said President Kufuor’s visit to Singapore was very instructive where he held bilateral discussions with that country’s foreign minister on ways of exploring new areas of co-operation.

Singapore offered to train Ghanaians on harbour operation in order to facilitate Ghana’s quest of making Tema the gateway to the sub-region.

He said President Kufuor also held discussions with the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister as well as the Canadian leader on ways of helping Ghana in her infrastructure development.