THE GOVERNMENT of President John Agyekum Kufuor has fulfilled one more promise - to streamline relations between Ghana and Australia.

Daily Guide’s scouts have learned that Mr. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw has been commissioned as Honorary Consul-General to Australia.

According to our information the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at Canberra, capital city of Australia, has confirmed the nomination of Kofi Osei-Ameyaw as the Honorary Consul-General in Australia.

Mr. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, a legal practitioner, is the first black African to be admitted to the New South Wales Bar in Sydney.

Our diplomatic sources confirmed that the Canberra Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, stated that “it has the honour to refer to the nomination of a head of a consular post in accordance with Article 11 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations”. And, therefore, in accordance with “Article 12 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Mr. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw is, by this Exequatur, admitted to the exercise of his functions as Consul-General for Ghana in Sydney with jurisdiction throughout New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania”.

Background

When President Kufuor attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) early this year in Coolum, he interacted with Ghanaians living in Sydney and the Australian Business Community and gave the assurance that his government was working seriously with the Australian Government for it to approve the nomination of an Honorary Consul-General.

Ghana-Australia Relations

Relations between the two countries started soon after Ghana’s Independence when Australia set up its Mission in Accra. Ghana could not immediately reciprocate until August 1966, when Ghana’s Mission in Canberra was set up with Mr. H.V.H. Sekyi, being appointed as the first High Commissioner.

In 1971, the Australian Government invited ex-Prime Minister, Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, to visit Australia.

Soon after, Dr. Busia was over-thrown by a military junta in 1972 and the invitation did not automatically fall to the lot of Col. I.K. Acheampong, the Chairman of the National Redemption Council (NRC) which took over as the Head of Government, the invitation, was not renewed by the Australian Government.

Ghana maintained a resident High Commissioner in Australia from 1966 until 1982, when the Mission in Canberra, was closed down for economic reasons.

The Australian Mission in Accra was closed down in 1985.