The Minister for National Security, Mr Albert Kan Dapaah, has revealed at the United Nations headquarters in New York that piracy and robbery at sea, especially in the Gulf of Guinea, is a serious security threat and that the Government of Ghana and her partners will do everything possible to fight it.
The resolve by Ghana to tackle the maritime crime, he continued, is to also advance sustainable development through enhanced global peace and security, during her tenure on the United Nations Security Council.
The National Security Minister, who was speaking at the launch of TheStable Seas Report on the Cost of Piracy off the Gulf of Guinea at the UN headquarters, contended that piracy and robbery at sea are indeed a great threat to global security and that Ghana, as well as other countries in the Gulf of Guinea region, are no exception.
He further added that the increase in the activities of piracy and robbery at sea in the region from 64 in 2011 to 106 in 2020 should be of concern to the international community.
The launch of the report, which was co-sponsored by Ghana, Norway, Nigeria and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), is commendable in many respects.
Ghana’s co-sponsorship of the launch of the report is part of her efforts to draw global attention to the canker of piracy and galvanise multilateral support for regional arrangements in dealing with the issue.
Ghana assumes her seat on the United Nations Security Council in January 2022 for two years, and will use her tenure to support Resolutions and Presidential Statements aimed at addressing insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea.
The areas covered in the report, including the direct and indirect costs suffered by states in the Gulf of Guinea region due to pirate attacks, are important for the economies of these countries, including Ghana.
The launch was jointly performed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway, H.E. Ms. Anniken Huitfield and the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, who represented the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.
On the margins of the launch of the report, Mr Kan-Dapaah held a bilateral meeting with H.E. Ms. Huitfeldt, to exchange ideas on areas of cooperation, including ensuring maritime security, particularly during Ghana’s tenure on the Security Council.
Ghana and Norway will be serving together on the Security Council for a year in 2022.
The Minister also seized the opportunity to highlight some of the other priorities that Ghana looks forward to cooperating with Norway while on the Council, including Strengthened Partnerships with Regional Arrangements; Preventive Diplomacy; Countering Insurgencies and Violent Extremism; Effective Mandates for peace support operations; Women in Peace and Security; Youth in Peace and Security: and Climate Change Dimensions of Peace and Security.
In her remarks, the Norwegian Foreign Minister noted that Norwegians have always depended on the sea for food, work and development as a modern nation.
She said that development within the coastal states of the Gulf of Guinea was hampered by the activities of piracy and maritime armed robbery. She emphasized the need to combat the menace in order to unleash the full potential of the economies of the states in the Gulf of Guinea region.
