Akufo-Addo meets German Chancellor
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2016 Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), last Tuesday met briefly with the German Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, at the Deutscher Bundestag (the German Parliament), in Berlin, the capital of Germany.
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The discussion between the two leaders took place prior to a meeting of the parliamentary group of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at the Bundestag.
Nana Akufo-Addo, who is currently on the fourth day of his working visit to Germany, used the opportunity to renew acquaintances and also congratulate the German Chancellor on her re-election in September 2013, marking her third term in office as the leader of Europe's biggest economic power.
Dr Merkel, who is also the leader of the CDU, thanked Nana Akufo-Addo for his visit and wished the NPP leader well ahead of the December 2016 elections.
Prior to the meeting with the German Chancellor, Nana Akufo-Addo met Mr Volkmar Klein MdB, the budgetary and financial policy spokesperson of the CDU parliamentary group at the Bundestag.
He also called on Ambassador Georg Schmidt, the Regional Director for sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel of the Federal Foreign Office in his final meeting of the day.
Issues bordering on the state of the Ghanaian economy, the consolidation of the democratic credentials of Ghana, as well as the importance of regional integration as a tool for the rapid development of the West African region, were discussed.
On the consolidation of Ghana’s democracy, Nana Akufo-Addo stressed the need for the compilation of a new voters register as a credible voters register was of utmost importance ahead of the 2016 election.
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“We are not interested in playing the blame game. We are only interested in doing what is right for our democracy. The Ghanaian election should not be a West African election. We want the Electoral Commission to listen to the growing calls for a credible register and do what is required to achieve that,” he said.
On regional integration, Nana Akufo-Addo stated that Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal could do for the West African region what Germany, France and the Benelux countries did for Europe by leading the push for economic integration.
He stressed that without regional integration, West Africa’s small economies, other than Nigeria’s, will struggle for relevance, “denying ourselves the capacity to compete in this increasingly competitive global environment.”
Nana Akufo-Addo also participated in the celebration, on May 19, 2015, of Africa Day in Berlin, where the keynote speaker was the former Nigerian President, H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo. He exchanged warm greetings with Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany, Ms Akua Sena Dansoa, both of whom had been Members of Parliament at the same time.
On Monday, April 18, 2015, Nana Akufo-Addo, under the auspices of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), met Mr Klaus Schuler, who is the Federal Manager of the CDU and who doubles as the campaign manager for Chancellor Merkel’s three successive electoral victories. At that meeting were Mr Frank Priess, Deputy Head of European and International Co-operation of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Andrea Ostheimer, the head of department for sub-Saharan Africa at KAS.
Early the same day, Nana Akufo-Addo paid a courtesy call on Mr Hartwig Fischer, the President of Deutscher Afrika Stiftung (German African Foundation).
Last Wednesday, prior to his departure for Amsterdam, Nana Akufo-Addo met Mr Charles Huber MdB, the well-known actor of Senegalese descent, who is a CDU Member of the Bundestag.
According to the MP, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the Bundestag, Africa needed a change of perspective and should not be overly dependent on aid from developed countries. He stressed the time was right for African economies to depart from being mere exporters of raw materials, and embrace "value-added policies." The development of a genuine regional market, through regional integration, he added, was one of the surest ways to bring about sustained prosperity in the region.
Nana Akufo-Addo was accompanied to those meetings by Ms Otiko Afisa Djaba, the National Women’s Organiser of the NPP; Mr Charles Owiredu, Director of International Relations of the NPP; Rev. Alex Acheampong, Chairman of the NPP branch in Germany; Mr Sammy Adjei, 1st Vice Chairman of NPP Germany; Mrs Rebecca Sarpong, 2nd Vice Chairperson of NPP Germany; Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, Political Assistant to Nana Akufo-Addo; and Mr Eugene Arhin, Press Secretary to Nana Akufo-Addo.
The NPP Presidential candidate yesterday left for the Netherlands, the second country his 16-day tour of Europe.