Located in West Africa, Ghana is an important extension node of China's One Belt One Road strategic framework. Recently, the groundbreaking ceremony of the office annex project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana, which was designed and managed by China IPPR, was held in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Lu Kun and Ghanaian Foreign Minister Bochwe attended the ceremony.

Lu Kun said that the China-aided Ghana Ministry of Foreign Affairs building project was officially completed ten years ago, and this year the two sides held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Ghana-aided Ministry of Foreign Affairs building project, which demonstrates the profound friendship between the two sides. As a specific measure to implement the "Nine Projects" of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the annex project will further improve the working environment of the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, improve office efficiency, and enhance the well-being of the people. It will also become an important symbol of China-Canada friendship.

Lu Kun emphasized that China and Canada have always supported each other politically and their economic ties have become closer. In recent years, the quality and efficiency of cooperation between the two countries have been improved, and a series of practical cooperation results such as the technical cooperation project of the Cape Coast Stadium have been harvested. Looking into the future, China is willing to continue to uphold the principles of sincerity, amity, sincerity and the correct outlook on justice and interests, and work with the Ghanaian government to push China-Ghana cooperation to a new level, and jointly build a China-Africa community with a shared future and a global development community in the new era.

Bochwe thanked the Chinese government for its long-term valuable support to the Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She said that a fire broke out in the office building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada in 2009, and the office environment was extremely tense. The Chinese government promptly helped to build the current office, which solved the urgent need. At present, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada is facing a serious shortage of office space and lack of some basic functions. We thank the Chinese government for lending a helping hand again, which shows the sincere friendship between the two sides. The Canadian side believes that the Chinese side will complete the project construction with high quality and efficiency.

A few days ago, at the celebration of the 66th anniversary of Ghana's independence held in Beijing, Ghana's ambassador to China, Winfred Hammond, said that the scope of China's investment in Ghana is very extensive, which has created employment opportunities for Ghana and also contributed to the promotion of local development has made a significant contribution.

Hammond said that in 1960, Ghana established diplomatic relations with China, and Ghana became one of the first African countries to set up an embassy in Beijing. As the second largest economy in West Africa, Ghana's economy maintains a good momentum of growth. In 2021, Ghana will absorb a total of US$2.6 billion in foreign direct investment, ranking second in West Africa and seventh in Africa. He said that through cooperation under the framework of the "Belt and Road" initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China has played a key role in Ghana's reform and development. Especially in the field of infrastructure, China is helping Ghana build high-quality roads and bridges. In the field of energy, China has made important contributions to the development of Ghana's power industry. The Bui Hydropower Station, a key project in Ghana, was constructed by Chinese companies.

Ghanaian Ambassador to China Winfred Hammond

Under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China-Canada cooperation has been deepening. "China has achieved a comprehensive victory in the fight against poverty in a very short period of time. Such an example is worth following." Hammond said that the "nine projects" of China's cooperation with Africa proposed at the Dakar meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation include poverty reduction. Farmer-friendly projects, which provide an opportunity to improve rural infrastructure conditions in Africa. In terms of renewable energy, China's participation can help Ghana's electricity supply system become reliable, affordable, efficient, modern and environmentally friendly.

"The scope of Chinese investment is very broad, covering agriculture, health, infrastructure, industry, mining, service industries and other fields. In recent years, Canada-China cooperation has been deepening in fields such as aviation, power generation, automobiles, daily chemical products and food." This has contributed significantly to job creation and development in Ghana, Hammond said. China has also helped Ghana build a natural gas processing plant and a national optical fiber backbone network, helping Ghana's industrialization and digitalization process.Editor/Ma Xue