The governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have pledged to coordinate and reinforce security operations at their borders to prevent activities that affect the quality of the Bia and Tano water resources.

Also, the two countries are to halt all illegal mining activities that lead to the pollution of the basins and share best practices and knowledge in mining and other necessary areas.

These were contained in a communique issued after a bilateral meeting between the two countries on the Bia and Tano transbound­ary water systems.

A joint communique issued and signed in Accra by the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, and the Ivoirian Minister of Water and Forestry, Mr. Laurent Tchagba, said all illegal mining activities that lead to the pollution of the two basins must be brought to an end “as a matter of urgency.”

According to the ministers, in spite of the mitigation measures that both countries have been im­plementing, the level of pollution of the two river basins was still beyond the normal standard.

The communique noted that reactivating and making per­manent, the Joint Ministerial Committee and the Joint Tech­nical Sub-committee to monitor pollution caused by illegal mining on the transboundary river basins and also expand the committees to include other relevant sectors, was necessary.

At the end of the bilateral meeting, Ms. Dapaah said that Cote d’Ivoire’s Water and Forestry Min­ister, Laurent Tchagba, expressed gratitude to the government and the people of Ghana for the warm and fraternal welcome accorded them, and for the exceptional quality of the organisation of the meeting.

She assured that Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire would remain committed to implementing the recommendations.