Accra, July 6, GNA - Ghana Renewal Institute, a think-tank, and Ghana Centre for e-Governance, a governance non-governmental organisation, are organising a public lecture, to herald the historic visit of the US President, Barack Obama, to Ghana this week. The event which will take place on Wednesday, July 8, is expected to draw a huge audience from members of the diplomatic community, both serving and retired, the academia, students of tertiary institutions, high ranking government officials, politicians across the political divide and the general public.

A release from the organisers said the Principal Speaker, on the topic: "Ghana- United States Relations - Past, Present and Future," would be Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the Ghanaian Chief Executive Officer of the London-based Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation. Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, the immediate past presidential candidate of the Convention People's Party and a former Minister of Public Sector Reform, in the Kufuor administration is also billed to speak as well as a representative of the American Embassy in Ghana.

Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, will chair the occasion.

Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the principal speaker, was Ghana's Ambassador to the US, during the administration of the National Democratic Congress, under former President Jerry John Rawlings. He also served as Minister of Communications and Education. Records show that Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbeah chalked many remarkable successes during his tenure as Ambassador to the US, raising Ghana-US relations to very high levels.

Among his feat was a spectacular business tour of 10 cities in eight-days, which he initiated for former President Rawlings, to heal Ghana's relations with the world super power, after a frosty period during the revolutionary years in the 1980s.

Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, who had lived in the United States for many years before relocating to Ghana, went first to study in that country became a professional in several US companies and returned to Ghana, first to do business and subsequently entered politics. He rose to the top of the Management and Accounting firm, Deloitte and Touch to become Chairman of its Africa practice.

Dr. Nduom is reputed to have played a leading role in securing for Ghana the Millennium Challenge Account projects, a United States' assistance package to countries in Africa, which have exhibited good democratic qualities.

The statement said: "In choosing Ghana as the first and only black African nation to visit on his maiden voyage to the continent, as President, Barack Obama has once again re-emphasized America's and indeed the world's recognition of Ghana as a leading democracy on the African Continent.

This visit comes so closely on the heels of similar ones by his immediate predecessors, Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush.