The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Member of Parliament for Tatale-Sanguli, Thomas Mbomba says Ghana will continue to use its tenure at the United Nations (UN) Security Council to advocate for global peace and security.
According to him, one of Ghana’s priorities as a non-Permanent Member of the Security Council is working with other UN member states to ensure that the UN Security Council decisively responds to the new threats to global peace and Security.
He added that the priorities include; addressing the root cause of conflicts, effective peacekeeping through burden sharing between the UN and Regional Organisations such as ECOWAS and the fight against terrorism, piracy, illicit arms, drugs, human trafficking, violent extremism and climate insecurity.
Mr Mbomba made the statement while on a working visit to Czech Republic to discuss matters bordering on Ghana’s bilateral and multilateral relationship with the European Union.
The visit was necessitated by the fact that the Czech Republic has taken up the Presidency of the European Union Council.
Mr Mbomba, in a discussion with the Czech Republic Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Non-European Countries, Economic and Development Cooperation, Martin Tlapa, indicated that the assumption of the Presidency of the European Union (EU) Council by the Czech Republic would provide more opportunities for both countries to work closely together on issues of common interest.
He added that the EU is an invaluable partner in international peace and security, as well as achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa, hence the relevance of the visit.
The leader of the Ghana delegation gave assurance to Mr Tlapa that his country will continue collaborate with Czech Republic on multilateral grounds in order to respond decisively to existing and emerging threats.
Mr Mbamba stressed that Ghana has always been actively involved in ECOWAS and AU deliberations, including efforts at resolving regional conflicts on the continent, and that the government does not only have strong interest in the afore-mentioned issues, but is also committed to working with its partners, including Czech Republic.
He went on to explain that, the complexity of the problem demands cooperation and capacity building to enable our countries address the menace.
“Ghana is seriously committed to the fight and is calling on the Czech Republic to support efforts aimed at strengthening our capacity to contribute to the improvement of the security situation in the Region, particularly by implementing preventive counter-terrorism strategies,” he noted.
He said the Political Climate remains fragile in these regions and has been characterized by religious and communal tensions, general climate of insecurity and recent coup d’états.
The Deputy Minister added that, the growing instability in the Sahel region is also a growing threat to Coastal Regions and Ghana and ECOWAS count on the support of Czech Republic towards resolving the issues.
He recalled to his Czech counterpart the Accra Initiative and the ECOWAS Security plan and the efforts under Ghana’s leadership to put in place an ECOWAS force to take the fight to the terrorists.
He further indicated that ECOWAS and Ghana, during Ghana’s tenure as ECOWAS chair, were committed to funding the operations out of their own resources, but face challenges due to the budget crunch most ECOWAS States are facing.
He, therefore, called for the need for burden sharing with partners in Europe and North America especially, including in the areas of intelligence, logistics, capabilities, training and deployment.
