Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has held a bilateral meeting with Mr Sungsoo Kim, the Ambassador of Korea to Ghana.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, and copied to the Ghana News Agency said during the meeting, the two diplomats discussed issues such as the donation of vehicles to the Ministry and the outbreak of the COVID -19 in Korea.

Madam Botchwey recalled the strong bonds of friendship between the Ghana and Korea since the establishment of bilateral relations some six decades ago, which had culminated in a number of high level visits, especially at the levels of Heads of State and Government and Foreign Ministers.

She acknowledged the various kinds of assistance provided by Korea in support of Ghana’s development; notably, the Capacity Development Farmer-Based Co-operative Organisation in Northern Ghana, as well as a significant number of capacity-building scholarship programmes.

The Minister expressed the appreciation of the Government of Ghana to the Government of Korea for the donation of Korean-made vehicles, to the tune of one hundred and seventy seven thousand dollars ($177,000.00) to the Ministry, following her meeting with her Korean counterpart, Madam Kang Kyung-wha, during the latter’s visit to Ghana in July 2019 and indicated that this kind gesture would go a long way to facilitate the Ministry’s work.

Madam Botchwey mentioned, with regret, the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Korea and expressed the hope that the controlling measures the Korean Government had so far put in place would curb the spread of the virus

She also expressed the worry of the Ghana Government about the safety of Ghanaians living in Korea following the unfortunate news of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, particularly Ghanaian students on the Korean International Cooperation Scholarships.

The Minister informed the Korean Ambassador that the Ministry of Health of Ghana had issued guidelines and designated a number of hospitals, including Ridge Hospital, Korle-bu Teaching Hospital and Tema General Hospital, as initial case management centres in Accra.

She added that presently, Ghana had not recorded any cases of the virus infection and indicated that as a preventive measure, thermal temperature scanners had been put in place at the country’s entry points to screen and isolate people with high temperatures of fever to ascertain whether those are symptoms of the deadly COVID-19.

The Minister mentioned that a National Technical Coordination Committee had equally been set up to coordinate and monitor responses to any possible outbreak.

She stated that COVID-19 was an issue of great concern for all countries and would require concerted effort to find lasting measures to control the situation.

Madam Botchwey thanked the Ambassador for the meeting and assured him of the continuous support of the Ministry and various Government Institutions in pursuit of deeper bilateral relations between Ghana and Korea.

Touching on the COVID-19, Mr Kim said the outbreak was affecting global economy and had led to decline in oil prices, adding that Ghanaian students in South Korea were safe.