President swears in new ambassador to Japan

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday swore in Mrs Genevieve Edna Apaloo as the new Ambassador of Ghana to Japan at a ceremony at the Jubilee House in Accra.

The President led Mrs Apaloo to swear the oath of allegiance, official oath and the oath of secrecy.

Until her new appointment, Mrs Apaloo served with Ghana's mission in Washington DC in the US and is the first woman to be appointed Ambassador of Ghana to Japan.

Deepen relations

President Akufo-Addo, in a remark after the ceremony, reminded the new ambassador of the strong relations between Ghana and Japan which he said, dated back to the era of independence.

"Japan is a very good friend of our country. She has been a very faithful and dependable ally of Ghana ever since our independence. You are there to promote the relations between us and them and I am very confident that you will be able to do so,” he said.

"You know what our main pre-occupations are; which is to bring as much investment into our country as possible to accelerate the development of our economy, the things we need to do to consolidate and grow our democracy. The system of government we have chosen to live by and generally to promote goodwill in our relations with Japan and people across the world," he said.

Admirable Japan

President Akufo-Addo said he admired Japan for its module of development which had brought it where they are and hoped that many of the things the government was doing in the country would have the same impact and result in Japan.

He told the new ambassador to establish a bond with the new Japanese Prime Minister.

The President expressed confidence in her and wished her the best of luck in her new role.

I’ll give my all

The ambassador, on her part, expressed gratitude to the President for the confidence reposed in her by appointing her to serve as an ambassador.

Mrs Apaloo said aside from being a very important friend of the country, Japan was also a very powerful country in the world and, therefore, assured the President of her support.

The ambassador was grateful to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and the Council of State, as well as her family and parish priest for their continued support.

Background

Mrs Apaloo has served in Ghana’s missions in France, Togo, Nigeria, and Equatorial Guinea before her postings to the USA.