Accra, Sept. 10, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor will leave Accra on Thursday for a three-day visit to the United States of America at the invitation of President George W. Bush from September 15 to 18. The visit, the second by an African leader in the eight-year term of President Bush's tenure of office, will further deepen Ghana/US partnership and strengthen the two nations' commitment to promote peace and prosperity in Africa and the world, an official statement in Accra on Wednesday said.
The statement signed by Mr Andrew Awuni, Press Secretary to the President and Presidential Spokesman, said the two heads of state would discuss common issues relating to malaria and neglected tropical disease prevention, deepening democratic values and ensuring peace and stability in Africa.
It said the visit is one of the six state visit invitations during President Bush's two terms in office.
The other five were the Mexican President Vicente Fox (2001) Polish President Aleksander Kwesniewoki (2003) Filipino President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2003), Kenya President Mwai Kibaki (2003) and British Monarch Queen Elizabeth II (2007).
President Bush and his wife Laura visited Ghana in February 2008. First Lady Laura Bush on her own visited Ghana in 2006. Similarly, President Kufuor and President Bush have had a number of meetings at the White House.
Subsequent to the visit, President Kufuor will attend the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, where he is scheduled to deliver a key farewell speech during the General Assembly debate for heads of state and government, beginning September 23. President Kufuor has since 2001 participated in all but one of the UN General Assembly sessions.