Accra, Dec. 7, GNA - Emmanuel Amon Tanoe, outgoing Cote d'Ivoire Ambassador to Ghana, on Wednesday, expressed gratitude to President John Agyekum Kufuor for his personal involvement in efforts at bringing peace to strife-torn Cote d'Ivoire.

"If we should come out of the present turmoil, you would always be remembered as one of the key architects of the peace," he said. The Ambassador, who is returning to his country after an eight-year duty tour of Ghana, said this when he called on President Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, to bid him farewell.

Mr Tanoe recalled the three rounds of peace talks held in Accra to bring the various factions together to broker political settlement and said his country would at the right time come to say thank you to President Kufuor.

He also lauded what he said was the tremendous progress Ghana was making in terms of democracy and good governance and said if things should continue this way for the next 10 years, the country would become a showpiece for the rest of Africa.

President Kufuor said he was overwhelmed by the compliments from the outgoing Ambassador, and pointed out that whatever he did to assist the Ivorien situation and to resolve the misunderstanding among the factions was done because he felt he had a duty to do that. He said he had every reason to believe that the situation there was not hopeless, adding that, this belief had been reinforced by recent political developments, which showed that the country could turn the corner away from violence and be put onto the path of peace. President Kufuor said the fact that Mr Tanoe was kept at post in Ghana by three successive Ivorien Governments meant he wielded some influence and asked him to use that to provide good counselling to the Ivorien President and the newly appointed Prime Minister on the need for restraint, patriotism and fellow-feeling.

He said Ghana appreciated the way he helped to deepen the understanding and relationship between the two neighbouring countries.