Kojo Yankah, GNA Special Correspondent, Johannesburg
Johannesburg, (South Africa) April 18, GNA - The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has paid a courtesy call on the South African President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, as part of a 10-day goodwill visit to the country.
He commended the President for his support for African traditional leaders in their efforts to organize themselves as partners in the accelerated development of their countries. Otumfuo Osei Tutu also congratulated President Mbeki for his exemplary leadership in multi-cultural South Africa and his role in resolving conflicts on the continent, especially in neighbouring La Cote d'Ivoire.
"Your unyielding support for peace in other African states and your role in the creation of NEPAD and the accompanying African Peer Review Mechanism are very much recognized and respected," he said.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu described the merger between Anglogold South Africa and the Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited as "a major step in economic cooperation between South Africa and Ghana".
He presented a Kente cloth, and native sandals to President Mbeki and invited him to his Manhyia Palace in Kumasi at a later date. Nana Otuo Siriboe, Juabenhene and Ghana's High Commissioner to South Africa, Mrs Ellen Nee-Whang, accompanied the Asantehene.
President Mbeki thanked Otumfuo for the visit saying, "It would strengthen the role traditional leaders play in enhancing Africa's development."