France envoy shares experiences in Ghana
Living and working in Ghana for almost four years has been one of my greatest job satisfactions. I wish to thank Ghanaians for welcoming me very well everywhere I went in nine of the 10 regions of Ghana. I also had the chance to have trustful relationship with HE President John Dramani Mahama, the various ministers and the MPs, civil society actors and businessmen.
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All my interlocutors were great listeners and had great potential. For these reasons, we were able to progress very quickly on a lot of projects.
What I have learnt from my mission here is the high level of political confidence that exists now between our two countries. I believe that there are several reasons for that.
First is the official visit paid by HE President Mahama to France in May 2013, while the judicial process before the Supreme Court was still going on. I suggested this invitation to my authorities and I was delighted that President François Hollande agreed. The French head of state is really committed to Africa and he knew what the relationship with Ghana meant. The visit was very successful.
The second explanation is the political dialogue set up between Ghana and France in 2013. Since then, we have had an annual session of political dialogue between our two countries, alternatively in Paris and Accra. Our exchanges of views and expertise cover a large scope.
We discuss African and Middle East issues, as well as the United Nations agenda or cross-cutting issues such as terrorism and security. It is a confident and very open dialogue and I’m really delighted that we have reached this level of trust.
Lastly, the relationship between our two parliaments has developed tremendously over the last few years and the foundation has been laid for further and deeper engagements to take place.
Huge potential
I have also learnt about the huge potential of the country, particularly in the economic sector. I am aware of the current challenges, but I believe in Ghana’s future. That is why I have kept on encouraging French investors to come. When the main association of French businessmen, MEDEF, visited Ghana last May, for the second time, they delivered a message of confidence to HE President Mahama, as well as to the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Private Enterprise Federation (PEF).
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That is also what the 60 French companies which are working here in Ghana with their Ghanaian partners and customers think. I would like to repeat that France believes in the economic future of the country and in its attractiveness.
The government took the first corrective action and the IMF acknowledged it recently. I am happy to learn that some French contracts and investments are going on. At the moment, there are 1.2 billion dollars of commercial exchanges between France and Ghana.
It is good but it can be better. This is why I decided to create the French Chamber of Trade in Ghana. It was inaugurated by HE Vice President Amissah Arthur in May 2014. It aims at promoting Ghana and developing the economic cooperation between our two countries. It is a success with 75 affiliated French and Ghanaian companies. Twelve missions have since come from France and four workshops have been organised.
I had a third objective in the field of knowledge and university exchanges. In 2012, I asked my staff to prepare a Conference on French and Ghanaian universities. The first conference took place in Accra in 2013. The second one was in Paris in 2014 and the last one was held in Accra in June 2015. It has been a great success with a common understanding between Ghanaian vice chancellors and French presidents of universities.
Ten agreements of partnership between universities have been signed between 2013 and 2015. It proves that the relationship between one major French-speaking country around the world and one major English-speaking country around the world can work. This year, for the first time in Africa, an agreement of mutual recognition of diplomas between our two countries was signed. I am convinced that this will accelerate the mobility of the students between France and Ghana.
In this context, I believe it is important to support the French language in Ghana as we, French people, support the English language in our education system. This has been a priority for me. There are margins of improvement in teaching at the level of primary and secondary schools. However, I have been pleased to see the quality of French departments in Ghanaian universities.
It is really an asset for Ghana which is surrounded by French-speaking countries in order to integrate the zone by learning French and allowing deeper commercial and university relations. We are working on an important programme to support French language in Ghana and I trust it can be launched at the beginning of 2016.
Agriculture
For the development of cooperation, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has been active in Ghana for 30 years, mainly in the fields of energy, agriculture or sustainable development. I have often visited the projects of AFD and I must recognise that its work suits the local conditions. AFD has an in-depth knowledge of its partners, either ministries or agencies.
In 2015, US$550 million have been committed to various projects. I could speak about many other projects we have worked on during these past years, but the last one I would like to mention, as it is important for the country, is a project on decentralisation and reform of the public sector.
It was launched in 2011 and was renewed in 2014 with a programme of redeveloping central and local administrations. I believe that with this programme we have started a substantive reflection on the future institutional balance of the country.
Finally, during the last months, the agenda has been about the preparation of the 21th Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) which will be held in Paris at the end of November 2015. France will be the chair and our wish is that the debates will lead to a universal agreement accepted by all countries in the world.
We have worked a lot with the Ghanaian authorities, with the civil society and the researchers to prepare this conference. Ghana has a strong plan and works on its national contribution, which will be presented during the conference. I am convinced that the country has a lot to bring in this field.
The writer is the outgoing France envoy to Ghana
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