President Receives Prime Minister of St Vincent and Grenadine in Accra

By Yaw Kyei

President Akufo-Addo in a handshake with Dr Ralph Gonsalves , Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the Jubilee House in Accra.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo hosted the Prime Minister of St Vincent and Grenadine, Ralph Gonsalves, at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday and the two leaders expressed their commitment to help strengthen the relations between Africa and the Caribbean.

They stressed the need to establish a formal relationship between the two regions and explore areas of economic and cultural ties.

President Akufo-Addo said Africa Union (AU) had five traditional regions, with the Caribbean and the African Diaspora as its sixth region.

That, he added, provided the basis to develop a more formalised relationship between Africa and the Caribbean.

He said Ghana played an important role in the decolonisation and liberation of the African continent and in defining Africa's position in the world and indicated that Ghana would support steps to formalise the relations between Africa and the Caribbean.

Mr Gonsalves, who first proposed the idea and called on Ghana to use its influence in the region to rally support behind it, said the move would facilitate economic, trade, political, cultural and diplomatic ties between the two regions.

He said the contemporary conditions in both areas required that leaders took such initiatives to the benefit of their people.

According to him, Africa and Brazil, for instance, have large populations and resources that could form the basis to build relations and partnerships and added that the two regions had common historical and cultural ties.

Mr Gonsalves stressed the need to strengthen the relations between Ghana and St Vincent and Grenadine through student exchange and cultural programmes.

He said through students exchange programmes; some of their people could fall in love, marry and further deepen the relations between the two countries and the integration of Africa and the Caribbean.

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