Ghana’ Ambassador to Mali, His Excellency Donald Adabere Adabre, on Thursday, 13th October, 2011, delivered a formal lecture at the University of Bamako, as part of the Embassy’s activities marking “Ghana Day” in Mali, during which he took both Faculty members and students through Ghana’s geography, history, and political economy, as well as the current status of the bilateral relations between Ghana and Mali. He also touched on efforts being made by his Mission to enhance the already warm relations between the two sisterly countries.

The event, which was organised by the Embassy in collaboration with the University of Bamako, was the first of its kind by an Embassy on the University campus and was attended by over 200 participants. Professor Massamakan Diabate, the Registrar of the University who represented the Vice-Chancellor on the occasion, welcomed the Ambassador and indicated the University’s preparedness to further cooperate with the Embassy for the development of Education in Mali. He also praised the Mission for the initiative and encouraged the students to consider the option of further studies in Ghana. Besides the lecture by H.E. the Ambassador, the award winning Ghanaian Movie, “Heritage Africa” written and directed by Kwaw Ansah was showed to the gathering, after which the participants were treated to different kinds of Ghanaian cuisines, making the event truly Ghanaian and colourful. According to H.E. Ambassador Donald Adabre, Ghana was currently enjoying a lot of goodwill on the international stage, by virtue of her practice of democracy, rule of law and fundamental human rights. He also informed the students that the country was being administered with the conviction that good governance and transparency would unleash the creative potential of the people for the overall development of the economy. On Ghana’s oil find, the Ambassador indicated that, the country expected the effects of the oil and gas on her economy to be catalytic rather than transformative in the immediate to near future. However, he observed that the oil reserves were large enough to affect the future of the economy if used in a holistic development strategy. His Excellency the Ambassador drove home the lessons of the film and advised the students to be true to whom they were, while being proud of their African heritage. He stated “it is only when we know where we are coming from that we would know where we are going as youth of Africa”. There were several questions and contributions from both the Faculty members and the students, during which the Ambassador took time to address them.

The “Ghana Day” event has been earmarked as an annual activity to promote a favourable image of Ghana in Mali, while developing the interests of Malian youth on issues of Ghana for better bilateral relations between the two countries.

Ghana Embassy, Bamako, Mali

14th October, 2011.