Ghana’s Ambassador To The Czech Republic
H.E. Mr. Victor Emmanuel Smith Presents
Credentials To The President Of The Czech Republic
H. E. Mr. Vaclav Claus

H. E. Mr. Victor Emmanuel Smith, Ghana’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic presented his letters of Credence and letter of recall of his predecessor to the President of the Czech Republic, H.E. Mr. Vaclav Klaus on Wednesday, 2nd June, 2010.

He was accompanied by his spouse, family and Home-Based Staff of the Mission. The ceremony started at 10:00 a.m. with the despatch of a motorcade to the residence of Ghana’s envoy in the Czech capital, where he was driven together with other members of his entourage to the Prague Castle, the seat of the Presidency.

At the Prague Castle, Ghana’s envoy was received by the Chief of Protocol and led through a ceremony during which the national anthem of Ghana was played and the inspection of the presidential guard of honour which marked the end of the outdoor session. He was then led indoors into the throne room where he was welcomed by the Director of Protocol of the Office of the President who led him through the process.

In discussions with the Czech President after the presentation of credentials, Ambassador Smith thanked the President for taking time off his busy schedule to receive his credentials and conveyed fraternal greetings from President John Evans Atta Mills to his Czech counterpart.

The new envoy informed the Czech President of the desire of his Ghanaian counterpart to further strengthen and consolidate existing cordial relations between Ghana and the Czech Republic and recalled the important role played by former Presidents Kwame Nkrumah and Antonin Novotny and their reciprocal visits to Accra and Prague in 1961 and 1962 respectively, and expressed the need for the renewal of such visits to kick-start the next stage of relations following the successful commemoration of 50 years of formal diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Czech Republic.

The Ambassador also expressed the appreciation of the Government of Ghana to the Czech Republic for past assistance granted Ghana and proposed collaboration between the two countries for the signing of an agreement for the transfer of technologies aimed at making Ghana self-sufficient in transport, agriculture, energy and housing sectors, among others.

Ambassador Smith also informed the President of the visit of the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament of Ghana to the Czech Republic in April, 2010 at the invitation of her Czech counterpart and expressed the hope that his tour of duty will witness the reciprocal visit between President Klaus and his Ghanaian counterpart.

He concluded by expressing satisfaction at the level of cooperation extended to the Mission by the President, Government and People of the Czech Republic over the years and assured the President of Ghana’s commitment to consolidate further the very cordial relations existing between the two countries.

In response, President Vaclav Klaus congratulated Ambassador Smith on the presentation of his Credentials and disclosed that the Czech Republic had expertise in Public transportation systems such as trams and metros which could easily be made available to Ghana and indicated that he would consider visiting Ghana in 2011.

Ambassador Smith and President Klaus then engaged in informal discussions on economic cooperation, aid effectiveness and ways to assist Africa among others.

Ambassador Smith subsequently disclosed his intention to pursue vigorously all the issues raised with the President with the various institutions and individuals responsible for such matters in order to bring to fruition the envisaged programmes aimed at attaining the better Ghana agenda of H. E. Prof. Evans Atta Mills.


GHANA EMBASSY
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC