Christine Battesti (4th from left), Political Counsellor to the French Ambassador, with IRDNGhana delegation, including Tornyi (5th from left), the President, and Worlase Kpeli (2nd from right), a member of the Governing Council.

IRDNGhana seeks partnership with French Embassy to promote ties

Nana Konadu Agyeman Jan - 24 - 2026 , 09:57 3 minutes read

delegation from the International Relations and Diplomacy Network Ghana (IRDNGhana), a body of international relations experts and practitioners, has paid a courtesy call on the French Embassy to discuss ways to strengthen diplomatic ties between Ghana and France.

The visit was also to introduce the network to the new French Ambassador formally and explore areas of sustained partnership to enhance trade, stability and security, cultural exchanges and diplomatic communications between the two countries.

The discussion also focused on ways the network could partner with the French Embassy to ensure accurate reporting of diplomatic issues in Ghana and France.

Diverse expertise

The delegation, led by the President of the IRDNGhana, Eunice Dede Tornyi, and a member of the Governing Council, Worlase Kpeli, was received by the Political Counsellor to the French Ambassador, Christine Battesti.

Imperative partnership

Mrs Tornyi said IRDNGhana had members with diverse expertise that could be harnessed to strengthen Ghana’s diplomatic ties with its development partners.

She noted that, as Ghana’s first international relations and diplomacy network, IRDNGhana recognised the importance of partnering with key stakeholders, including diplomatic missions, to promote mutual interests between Ghana and other countries.

“We want our stakeholders to know about us and make them see that we have the interest of the global community at heart.

“Though we are not the government, we believe that the network will be able to help with the formulation of policies that would speak in a better interest of Ghana, France and other countries,” she said.

Mrs Tornyi, a public relations consultant, said the government might not necessarily provide training or capacity building for individuals interested in global affairs.

For that reason, she explained, the network sought to play a complementary role, drawing on the expertise of its professional members, including lawyers, communicators, economists, international relations lecturers, and PhD students well-versed in international affairs, who had much to contribute to society.

“We would like to collaborate with some of the diplomatic missions to be able to ensure that people reporting about diplomatic engagements do that right,” she said.

As part of its capacity initiatives, Mrs Tornyi said the network, through its Convener, Professor Lord Mawuko Yavugah, had already undertaken building-capacity for reporters in international relations and diplomacy.

“We are looking at having do same for a lot of the media networks so that when it comes to presenting or reporting issues around diplomacy, we present it in a better light,” she said.

With the knowledge of the French Embassy going to roll out programmes in the area of artificial intelligence, she said the network had members who had expertise in the area of communicating AI to the citizenry.

“So, we believe that the collaboration with the French Embassy is going to help us in a way to be able to get people to better understand where we are going with this AI conversation that has been popping up everywhere,” she said.