WITH more than 40 years of friendship, Guyana and Ghana have reaffirmed their firm commitment to strengthening relations by deepening the cooperation agenda between the two nations.
This was affirmed during a meeting with Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo via telephone on Friday

Guyana and Ghana established diplomatic relations on May 14, 1979.
Both Guyana and Ghana are oil-producing nations and while oil was found in commercial quanities in Guyana in 2015, the “black gold” was discovered offshore in the progressive African nation close to five decades ago.
According to Bloomberg, Ghana is estimated to have between five and seven billion barrels of petroleum in reserve, which is the sixth largest in Africa and ranks among the top 25 largest proven reserves in the world. The West African nation also has significant natural gas reserves, reports indicate.

Guyana, which is among the new oil and gas-producing nations, has witnessed 20 oil discoveries thus far and with nine billion barrels of petroleum in reserve, Guyana is among the top 20 countries with the largest proven reserves in the world. Like Ghana, Guyana also has significant natural gas reserves.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a British-trained lawyer, is the current President of Ghana. He visited Guyana in 2019 and on that visit, Ghana entered into two agreements with the Government of Guyana.
In a bid to capitalise on the West African nation’s experience and expertise in the oil and gas sector, the two nations signed an agreement that will see Ghana lending technical support to Guyana’s oil and gas industry.

Guyana and Ghana also signed an agreement to abolish visa requirements for citizens of the two states.
Akufo-Addo is a popular President in his home country and aside from his wide popularity at home, he also holds significant influence in the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), a powerful 15-nation trading bloc, where he serves as Chairman.

Since President Akufo-Addo’s visit in 2019, Guyana has had a change of government with Dr Irfaan Ali of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) elected President following the March 2, 2020 elections, which saw a series of attempts to derail democracy.

President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali and President Akufo-Addo during their meeting on Friday reaffirmed their strong commitment to the longstanding friendly relations between their two countries.
President Akufo-Addo on his visit to Guyana in 2019 was awarded Guyana’s highest award, the Order of Excellence, and had met with a delegation led by then Opposition Leader and now Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.

At that meeting, Dr Jagdeo had shared with the Ghanaian President Guyana’s relationship with Ghana in the 1950s when the PPP interacted with then President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, on overcoming the ethnic tensions during that period.

Dr Jagdeo had also spoken about democracy and the challenge to democracy that both countries have endured and the Ghanaian President assured him that: “I support democracy. Democracy is the basis for stability in any country.”

President Akufo-Addo had given the assurance to Jagdeo after a meeting with David Granger, who was, at the time, serving as a caretaker President, after his government was toppled by a no-confidence vote.
President Akufo-Addo had promised Granger that Ghana will help in the development of Guyana’s fledgling oil and gas industry and had also promised to send a team of Ghanaian experts to Guyana, only if the Coalition government would provide accommodation for them.

The offer made by the Ghanaian President to Guyana which was under the Coalition government, from all indications, never materialised. But importantly, President Akufo-Addo had assured Jagdeo, who was then opposition leader, that he deals with countries and not individuals and political parties.

During the discussions on Friday, Presidents Ali and Akufo-Addo committed to advancing and deepening the agenda for cooperation between the two countries, including in the oil and gas sector and on environmental issues, amongst other areas.