Sena Siaw-Boateng wrote that Ghana must play a key role in establishing a new partnership between Africa and Europe.
Sena Siaw-Boateng is the Ambassador of Ghana to the Kingdom of Belgium and Head of Mission to the European Union
The next EU-African Union summit will be held in Brussels in February. It should mark a turning point in the relationship between the two continents. In this context, although Africa-Europe relations will be one of the priorities of the EU presidency, the speech delivered by the President of Ghana to members of the European Parliament during the last plenary meeting in 2021 is a real opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the two continents Ghana must play a key role in this. The country can play a role to promote dialogue and build partnerships, thereby turning the relationship between Africa and Europe into action.
In terms of trade, investment, development assistance, humanitarian assistance and security, the European Union is the continent’s main development partner. However, Europe must go further in its commitment to Africa. On the other hand, African countries can also play a role, actively responding and responsibly showing that they can become strategic partners.
National reforms to rebuild trust with European stakeholders
Ghana plans to remove it from the list of EU countries with weak anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing systems. The country was included in the list in 2019, but has since made major efforts, including the transition to a new anti-money laundering law in 2020.
This has changed everything in bilateral relations. Ghana has once again become one of the major African countries that European partners and stakeholders can trust. Ghana’s withdrawal from the list will facilitate the flow of funds into and out of European countries because it is no longer subject to automatic increase control.
In fact, these important reforms have greatly further strengthened bilateral relations across the European Union, will enable Ghana to continue to play its key role, and lead the strategic partnership and new partnership between Africa and Europe.
Green transition
The European Union recently announced that it will allocate 25 million euros to support and strengthen the economic, social and environmental sustainability agenda of cocoa production. Ghana is the world’s second largest cocoa producer and the largest producer of high-quality cocoa beans.
An example needs to be set at the subregional and continental levels.
Ghana must and use its reputation as a peaceful country and good governance, while cooperating with members of the West African subregion, embody the role of the EU’s privileged interlocutor in order to establish meaningful cooperation. Ghana is currently the chairman of the head of state and head of government of ECOWAS, and will encourage democratic institutions within ECOWAS to respect the rule of law in the future. From January 2022, Ghana will proudly become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and it will play this role during this difficult pandemic.
The confidence built by the African Union in Ghana by setting up the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat in Accra cannot be ignored. Therefore, Ghana urges the European Commission to support Africa’s ambitions for this continental free trade area because of its huge potential to promote intra-African trade and regional integration. This desired support will enable the African continent to enter the global market and build a resilient economy for the benefit of the African people.
Africa needs to make its own vaccine
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank are providing much-needed support for vaccine production and the emerging vaccine industry in Ghana. By deploying a structure to produce vaccines, Ghana will complement global efforts aimed at eradicating the pandemic.
It is now clear that African countries cannot rely on the world to provide vaccines and have the responsibility to develop their own vaccine production capacity.
Therefore, the next Africa-EU summit should allow the two continents to determine common priorities, and the African vision must find its place in the process. In addition to having the opportunity to remind the world of the importance of vaccine production in the economic integration of Africa and the African continent, this summit will also provide some information on the importance of multilateralism and our collective actions to eliminate insecurity in the Sahel. Positive revelation. Ghana intends to play this role as a proud strategic partner in Africa.
