[ 2017-05-04 ]

President Akufo-Addo

President advocates for 24-hour opening of Ghana-Togo borders
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, is advocating for the 24-hour opening
of the borders between Ghana and Togo, explaining
that this will boost trade and tourism, and,
thereby, ensure that the peoples of the two
nations reap the economic benefits thereof.

According to President Akufo-Addo, “the opening
of our borders will give true meaning to the
ECOWAS Protocols on Free Movement of Goods and
Persons, and will spur on progress and prosperity
for our peoples.”

He made this known on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, when
he delivered a brief speech at a State dinner held
in his honour by the President of the Republic of
Togo, His Excellency, Faure Gnassingbé.

With President Akufo-Addo determined to aid in the
strengthening of the ECOWAS community, he noted
that it is extremely important for the welfare of
the 350 million people living in West Africa, that
its leaders show strong political will to make
ECOWAS an economic and political success, and to
make the integration real.

“I am fully committed, and I know President
Faure Gnassingbé is too. With West Africa’s
population set to reach some 500 million people in
20 years time, there are immense opportunities to
bring prosperity to our region with enterprise and
creativity. The time for West African integration
is now. Ghana and Togo should take the lead in
converting ECOWAS into a true regional market,
and, indeed, in helping to facilitate the wider
efforts at continental integration and unity,”
he added.

A functioning, common regional market in ECOWAS,
in President Akufo-Addo’s view, has to be a very
fundamental objective of all of the peoples and
governments in ECOWAS, and it is for this reason
that “I am very much for the 24-hour opening of
the borders between our two countries. This will
boost trade, tourism, and, then can we reap the
economic benefits.”

It was the hope of President Akufo-Addo that
during his and the term in office of President
Faure Gnassingbé, Ghana and Togo will continually
search for ways to co-operate and harness fully
the benefits of their shared resources.

“The resources of the Volta Basin, the
exploitation of our mutual iron ore deposits, the
rapid construction of dams to extend the supply of
electricity to the northern parts of our
countries, the joint respect of our maritime
borders, the completion of the construction of
water treatment plants to deliver potable water,
as well as the sharing of knowledge and
information, will create jobs and wealth for our
two peoples,” he said.

To this end, President Akufo-Addo told his
Togolese counterpart that “it is not right that
the last meeting of the Permanent Joint Commission
of our countries was held in 2009, some 8 years
ago. It would give me great pleasure to welcome
your team to Accra for the next Joint Commission
meeting, hopefully in July. We must hasten the
process of the attainment of our shared
objectives.”

New Generation of African Leaders

President Akufo-Addo praised the Togolese
President for promoting a spirit of national
reconciliation amongst the Togolese people, a
reference to the presence of the erstwhile leader
of the Togolese opposition, Gilchrist Olympio, who
was also present at the State dinner.

“They have both exhibited considerable courage
in bringing the process this far. They have
demonstrated that the forward movement of this
country is their only and utmost concern. Long may
they continue on this path,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo noted that “Africa is
breeding a new generation of leaders”, adding
that “this generation of African leaders must
not fail the longsuffering African masses. They
must help bring dignity and prosperity to our
continent and its peoples.”

The new generation of leaders emerging on the
continent, he noted, are committed to governing
their peoples according to the rule of law,
respect for individual liberties and human rights,
and the principles of democratic accountability,
and are looking past commodities to position their
countries in the global marketplace.

He added that this new breed of African leaders
are determined to free their peoples from a
mindset of dependence, aid, charity and hand-outs;
are bent on mobilizing Africa’s own immeasurable
resources to resolve Africa’s problems; and
recognise the connectedness of their peoples and
economies to those of their neighbours.

Source - Flagstaff House Communications

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