NewsNew office, new road for Ghana-INBAR cooperation
Meeting breathes new life into planning Ghana’s National Bamboo and Rattan Common Facility Center and more.
On 1 February 2023, Mr. Francis Yaw Opoku, Minister Counsellor at the Embassy of the Republic of Ghana in Beijing, China, visited the newly opened INBAR West Africa Regional Office (WARO) in Accra, Ghana.
The Minister Counsellor toured the grounds of the new office and engaged in a lively discussion with on-site staff on a wide variety of topics of mutual benefit to Ghana, as INBAR’s Host Country, and WARO. Expressing admiration for the Accra facilities, the Minister Counsellor recounted the role the Embassy of Ghana in Beijing played in securing the new office space. He reiterated his role as INBAR’s Focal Point at the Embassy of Ghana in Beijing and pledged he would continue to strive to provide all the necessary support INBAR may need in undertaking project and administrative work in Ghana.
One of the main subjects brought up in the discussion was the establishment of Ghana’s National Bamboo and Rattan Common Facility Center in Accra. This Center has already been agreed upon in principle by Ghana and China, and the next steps are currently being formulated to ensure its timely development. It will be a major facility set to jumpstart Ghana’s bamboo and rattan sectors. Of particular importance is that the Minister Counsellor agreed to facilitate a meeting between Ghana’s Ambassador to China as well as the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources with support from INBAR WARO to discuss funding acquisition to support the beginning of construction.
In addition to this construction project, the Minister Counsellor also highlighted the wish of both himself and Ghana’s Ambassador to China to resume annual bamboo and rattan training in Ghana in the post-COVID-19 era, and expressed his desire for a collaborative multistakeholder meeting to meet with China’s Ministry of Commerce, the Forestry Commission of Ghana, INBAR and ICBR to discuss related work.
It was also emphasized the immense potential for Chinese investors to allocate capital into Ghana’s bamboo sector to spur new job opportunities. Such investment could not only help generate new green industries in Ghana, but also better integrate global value chains and create scenarios of mutual benefit for both China and Ghana.
As a final note of the meeting, the Minister Counsellor spoke on how he wished to facilitate a meeting between Michael Kwaku, Acting Director of INBAR WARO, and the Chief of Protocol at the Ghana Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resolve all outstanding issues of diplomatic status at INBAR WARO to ensure its proper place in the annual Diplomatic Book of the Government of Ghana.
