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Leaders of Ghana and Angola Meet Monday in Accra

   Peter Clottey 20 June 2010

   A senior official of Ghanaâs government says President John Atta Mills
   will   be  holding  bilateral  talks  with  his  Angolan  counterpart,
   President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, in the capital, Accra Monday.

   Foreign  minister  Muhammad  Mumuni  said  the  visit  will allow both
   leaders to consolidate strong bilateral and multi-lateral relations.

   âThe main reason for the visit really is a friendly bilateral visit to
   promote  understanding  and  cordiality between our two countries. Our
   two  countries  already  have  good  relations,  at both bilateral and
   multi-lateral  level,  at  a  very  high  level, and they just want to
   consolidate and deepen these relations,â he said.

AFP Photo

   Ghana's President Professor John Evans Atta-Mills

   Mr. Dos Santosâ two-day visit is his first to the West African country
   despite  strong  relations that have existed between the two countries
   over the years.

   Analysts  say  Ghana  stands to learn a great deal from Angola, an oil
   exporter.  Ghana  recently  discovered  over  a billion barrels of oil
   deposits offshore. Ghanaâs oil discovery has been described by experts
   as one of the largest oil finds along the West African region.

   Foreign  minister  Mumuni  said the talks will also focus on how Ghana
   can learn from Angolaâs oil production experience.

   âBoth  presidents  will have their bilateral teams and there will be a
   meeting  between the two teams to explore the areas of cooperation and
   to  extend  the  frontiers of our relations and certainly. Oil will be
   one  of  the  main  features.  Ghana  is  an emerging power because we
   recently  discovered  oil  and  gas  and it is programmed that, by the
   close of the year, we should start exploiting the oil,â Mumuni said.

   In  2008,  Angola overtook Nigeria as Africaâs largest and the worldâs
   eighth  largest,  producing  well  over 1.9 million barrels per day of
   high-quality  crude  oil  from  onshore and near-shore fields, up from
   900,000 bpd in 2002 and from 500,000 bpd in 1993.

AFP Photo

   Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos

   Foreign  minister  Mumuni  said  the  administrationâs  policy  is  to
   positively engage countries in Africa.

   âThe  cornerstone  of  President  Millsâ  foreign  policy is deepening
   relations  with  his  neighbors and with other African countries. And,
   therefore, President Mills is simply trying to actualize his vision of
   a  foreign  policy  that  is  African-centered  that  really  involves
   building  strong  bilateral  and multi-lateral relations between Ghana
   and  other  African  countries.  That I believe is the main motivation
   from this visit,â Mumuni said.

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