The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Monday, 16th April, 2018, met with the leader of the UK’s Labour Party and leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, MP, on the sidelines of the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, currently ongoing in the United Kingdom.
In the meeting, President Akufo-Addo noted that Ghana and the United Kingdom continue to maintain strong bonds of friendship and co-operation, adding that the UK remains one of Ghana’s most significant trading partners, and a major source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Again, as members of the Commonwealth, the President noted that Ghana and the United Kingdom continue to share common values of democratic accountability, good governance, respect for individual liberties and human rights, and the rule of law.
President Akufo-Addo and Jeremy Corbyn also discussed issues bordering on the deepening of democracy amongst member states of the Commonwealth, the worsening humanitarian crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria, United Nations Reforms, in particular reform of the UN Security Council, BREXIT, an increase in trade co-operation between Ghana and the UK, and migration.
Touching on the problem of migration, President Akufo-Addo noted that the structure of most of the economies on Africa, including Ghana, have been dependent, largely, on the production and export of raw materials.
These economies, the President noted, cannot create opportunities, wealth and prosperity for the African peoples, a situation which has fuelled the waves of migration of African youths from the Continent, who move to Europe in search of jobs.
It is for this reason, President Akufo-Addo told Jeremy Corbyn, that Ghana had decided to turn its back on the “old economy”, and focus her energies on building an industrialised, value-added economy, with a modernised agriculture, which takes full advantage of the digital revolution.
The President added that discussion on migrations and refugees cannot be complete without also including discussion about the nature of African economies, as it is only such a comprehensive discussion, which leads to appropriate policies, that will enable satisfactory solutions to be found to the crises of refugees and migration, especially from the African continent.
President Akufo-Addo invited the Labour Party leader, whose parliamentary constituency of Islington North has a high concentration of Ghanaians, to visit Ghana later in the year, an invitation which was warmly accepted by Jeremy Corbyn.
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