Two envoys who have officially completed their duty tour of the country, yesterday called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra to bid him farewell.
The two are the outgoing Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr Bijan Gerami Nazaksara who has been in the country for four years and his Japanese counterpart, Hisanobu Mochizuki.
Mr Nazaksara was the first to call on the President, followed by Mr Mochizuki who has also been in the country for the past three years.
Each of them was presented with a carved stool and a souvenir as their parting gift in line with age-long practice of Ghana’s presidency.
President Akufo-Addo expressed his profound gratitude to the departing envoys for their contributions towards further deepening the relations between their respective countries and Ghana.
He said it had been Ghana’s policy to consistently support Iran and would continue to be vocal about the issue of the sanctions imposed by the United States of America.
President Akufo-Addo expressed the hope that both Iran and Israel would use the United Nations system to find a peaceful resolution to the misunderstanding that had ensued in the last few months.
“When you get back to Tehran you know that the hope of us and of all people in the world is that the situation between you and Israel can find a solution, God willing, one day. We believe strongly that with the intervention of the United Nations, Iran and Israel should find a way of being able to address their common problems of the future in the interests of not just regional stability but also global peace and stability,” he said.
On Japan, President Akufo-Addo said the relationship between the two countries was one that was very strong and warm, stressing that “We share many common aspirations and also a very strong vision, common vision of the world.”
He noted that both Ghana and Japan were strong in condemning the Russian aggression and invasion against Ukraine, and would continue to stand on many similar issues in the global arena.
President Akufo-Addo said Japan’s support for Ghana’s tenure on the Security Council was something that the people continued to remember and appreciate very much.
He assured that government would put in place the necessary mechanisms to ensure that the will of the Ghanaian people was respected in the upcoming general elections.
The outgoing Iranian Ambassador noted that the economic sanctions imposed on his country by the US continued to be a major obstacle not just for its ambassadors but for boosting its relations across the world.
He said due to the sanctions, their banking system was locked thus making government-to-government cooperation very difficult.
Mr Nazaksara however said the focus had been on concentrating on the private sector and that was the major reason why private sector players in Iran were encouraged to come to Ghana and vice versa.
In his remarks, Mr Mochizuki said he would still carry fond memories of Ghana even as he ends his duty tour of the country.
He said Ghana continued to be a beacon of hope on the continent of Africa in relation to democratic development.
Mr Mochizuki said it was the hope of his country that the upcoming elections in December would further entrench peace and stability not only in Ghana but also in the sub region.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
