President Akufo-Addo To Embark On 9 day Official Visit To France, Belgium And South Africa

President Nana Akufo Addo is expected to leave Ghana on Sunday, 16th May, for a nine day official working visit to France, Belgium and the South Africa. These working visits are part of the efforts the President is making to re-engage with the rest of the world, following the onset of the pandemic, and highlight Ghana, once again, as a

country with impressive business friendly atmosphere, with bright economic prospects for the future. To this end, the President will, on the May 18, 2021, also attend a summit in the Paris, France, on Financing the African Economies, which will be held by the French President, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron. The summit, which

will also bring together several African and European leaders, and heads of international financial institutions, will devise strategies that will boost strong, inclusive recovery in Africa, grounded in a dynamic private sector, help foster sustainable progress and prosperity, and accelerate the green and digital transition in line with

the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. It is expected that a financial package will be devised to enable African countries to also overcome the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Participants are expected to agree on critical pro-growth reforms that are needed to enhance

the private sector in Africa, and tap its growth potential with the help of local and international financial support, including through risk-sharing instruments dedicated to African entrepreneurs and SMEs, as well as appropriate technical assistance. The summit will, hopefully, further agree on the key common rules and the enforcement

mechanisms that will contribute to securing strong, the sustainable growth in Africa. While in the Paris too, the President is scheduled to have bilateral discussions too with the President of the World Bank, and the Managing Director of the IMF, who will also both be attending the Summit. President Akufo Addo will from the Wednesday

the May 19, and at the invitation also of the President of the European Council, H.E. M. Charles Michel, be in the Brussels, Belgium, to also hold bilateral talks with the President and the officials of the European Council, and meet with stakeholders committed to the partnership between Ghana and also the European Union. The talks

between the President and President Charles Michel are expected to centre on regional security, as well as on sustainability issues in the cocoa and fisheries sectors of Ghana, and their impact on relations between Ghana and the European Union. The President will also in turn, and meet with the President of European Investment

Bank (EIB), Dr. Werner Hoyer, and also participate in the ceremony for the signing of a one hundred- and sixty-million-euro (€160 million) facility between EIB and the Ministry of Finance, towards the establishment of the National Development Bank. He will attend an investor conference in the Brussels on Ghana, and also hold a

meeting with Ms. Jutta Urpilainen, the European  Union Commissioner on International Co-operation, to discuss issues relating to the COVAX Facility, which is currently supplying COVID-19 vaccines to the country. On the last leg of his tour, President Nana Akufo Addo will, at the invitation of the Speaker, address the Fourth Ordinary

Session of the Fifth 5th Parliament of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), scheduled to take place on Monday, 24th May, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Deliberations of this Session will be guided by the African Union (AU) theme for 2021 Year of the Arts, Culture, and Heritage: Levers for Building Africa We Want. President Akufo Addo will be accompanied by the Minister for Foreign

Affairs, the Minister for Finance, and officials of the Presidency and the Foreign and Finance Ministries. He will be joined in Brussels by the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD). The President is expected to return to Ghana on Tuesday, May 25, 2021.