The parliamentary select committee of Foreign Affairs led by the Chairman, Hon. Frank Annoh-Dompreh, MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri are currently visiting the Ghana Missions in Asia and Europe as part of their responsibilities to evaluate the performance of the missions abroad.

Other members of the delegation are Hon. Kwaku Ampre Twum (Vice Chairman), Hon. Francis Dakora, Hon. Dr Clement Apaak and Hon. Yaw Boamah. They have visited Ghana missions in South Korea, Spain, Belgium, France and yet to visit Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda. Last two months, another team visited the USA.

The committee is assessing the performance of each visiting mission’s economic diplomacy efficiency, staff welfare, staff attitude to work, efficient consular service and the general interaction with the Ghanaian communities abroad. Also, they deliberated on keeping the properties in shape always to enable our mission premises meet international standards. Again, the committee uses the opportunity to meet foreign companies that are willing to invest in Ghana.

In South Korea, the members met Hyundai company for a possible investment in the country. A negotiation has also been made to enable the Agric Ministry to meet the executives of an Agriculture Equipment company in August, during a planned Agricultural Conference in South Korea. The committee members are looking forward to meeting other potential investors to help improve the country’s industrialization situation and create jobs for the people.

Speaking on behalf of the committee, Hon. Frank Annoh-Dompreh made the following recommendations to the missions:

(1)Focus on incremental maintenance culture of the properties in the various missions across the globe.
(2)Acquisition of properties instead of renting them, especially at locations where Ghana has strong bilateral relations.
(3)Review of staff welfare in the missions, as they discovered that mission staff welfare has not been reviewed for over 25 years.
(4)Critical considerations of the Ambassadors and High Commissioners in terms of economic diplomacy.
(5)Hard work by the diplomats to complement efforts by the president, Nana Akuffo Addo in improving the economic situation in Ghana.

The committee will return to Ghana next week and the members are looking forward to seeing significant changes in the country’s missions abroad after these important visits. Ghanaians in the diaspora are encouraged to exercise patience as the committee is working around the clock to raise the standards of the Ghana missions.