President-elect John Dramani Mahama has said his government would work closely with the international community to lift Ghana from the economic abyss it finds itself in.
According to the President-elect, deeper cooperation with the international community was critical to solicit the needed financial support to deliver on the mandate given him by Ghanaians at the poll.
In separate meetings with Ambassadors of the European Union and China in Accra yesterday, Mr Mahama said his government was open to doing business with the world again.
“We want to, not only maintain the relationship but raise it to another level. A lot of the foreign direct investments that come into our country are from the EU and we want to deepen that,” he told the EU Ambassador, Irchad Razaaly.
He said in the current economic circumstance that Ghana finds itself where the country has been shut out of the capital market “we have to do as much as possible to increase foreign direct investments so that we can be able to find jobs for our young people”.
The incoming government, the President-elect said would want to engage the EU “as early as possible” to have the details of the cooperation and see how same could be relooked at to match the programmes of the new government.
He expressed the country’s appreciation to the EU for the technical support in the electioneering season and hinted that his government would initiate a probe into the deaths that have been recorded in the 2024 election.
The EU Ambassador welcomed Mr Mahama’s renewed relationship with the Union and said the EU was ready to collaborate and deepen its relationship with the country on all fronts.
Hailing the peaceful conduct of the 2024 election, Mr Razaaly said Ghana remains the beacon of democracy on the African continent blazing the trail and congratulated the country for having a first female Vice President in the person of Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang.
With the Chinese envoy, the President-elect applauded the investments the country has made in Ghana since the establishment of the relationship in the first republic.
He said the country was ready to revive the cooperation with Sinohydro for the completion of the various projects that were being implemented across the country under the US$2billion facility which have stalled as a result of the debt default.
“So we are looking to focus and bring Ghana back up and this is the time Ghana needs to work closely with development partners like China,” he stated.
The Chinese Ambassador, Tong Defa, assured the President-elect of his country’s readiness to continue and deepen the relationship with Ghana for the mutual benefit of citizens.
President-elect Mahama also received the envoy of Algeria who had come to pay homage on his election as president.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI