Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has expressed gratitude to the Government of Singapore for its continuous support towards the socio-economic development of the country.

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey was speaking on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, in Accra, at a dinner hosted in honour of the visiting Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister of Policies of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Ghana and Singapore established diplomatic ties about three decades ago.

According to her, Singapore has played and continues to play a supportive role in the socioeconomic development of Ghana.

“May I seize the opportunity to place on record, the gratitude of the Government and people of Ghana to the Government of Singapore for its support of the socioeconomic development of Ghana, particularly through the award of educational scholarships to Ghanaian students.”

She told the visiting Minister that Singaporean companies have increasingly shown interest in Ghana, with some of them exploring business opportunities across various sectors, including oil and gas, agri-business and the hospitality industry.

According to Ayorkor Botchwey these facilities continue to contribute to the development of Ghana’s human resource base in a wide range of disciplines, including tax and customs administration, environmental protection, information technology and disaster and emergency Management in aviation sector.

Renewal of Ties

She described Mr Shanmugaratnam’s visit as one of the high profile visits within the framework of Ghana-Singapore bilateral relations.

His visit is the highest since the former Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zainul Abiding Rasheed, visited Ghana in 2008.

Ayorkor Botchwey expressed delight about the renewal of Ghana and Singapore’s bilateral relations which she said was defined by the common values of democracy, constitutional governance, rule of law, freedom of expression and of the press, respect for human rights, promotion of the liberal market economy and international peace and security.

Trade

She spoke about the advantages of the 1.2 billion market with a combined GDP of $3 trillion under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), wooing Singaporean businesses of the existence of the AfCFTA Secretariat in Accra.

The Ghanaian Minister observed that Singaporean businesses could take advantage of AfCFTA to increase their presence in Ghana and on the African continent.

Present at the dinner reception which took place at the Kempinski Hotel were Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, other Ministers of State as well as some Members of Ghana’s Parliament, Singaporean investors and diplomats, among others.