President-elect John Dramani Mahama has called for further strengthening of bilateral ties between Ghana and the United States (US) in diverse fields like the economy, finance, energy and security.
He made the call on Tuesday when Madam Virginia E. Palmer, the US Ambassador to Ghana, paid a courtesy call to congratulate him on his victory in the December 7 polls.
Mr Mahama reiterated the need for further deepening of Ghana-US relations for their mutual benefits.
“This is now critical than before because of what Ghana is going through, both in terms of the economy and finances, but more importantly even because of the energy sector,” he said.
The US had the comparative advantage in technology and knowledge, Mr Mahama noted, and that Ghana would work closely with that country to see how best to resolve the issues in that sector.
He recalled the work his previous administration did together with the US on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which made Ghana’s electricity sector more resilient than it was before the MCC.
He said it was just the final part, which they could not complete before he left office.
“Luckily we had the opportunity to discuss with the MCC when we went there to see how we could wrap up our cooperation,” Mr Mahama said.
The new administration would revisit the issue to see how they could wrap up that cooperation.
“On the security front we know what the issues in our subregion are and the US has been a long-standing partner in terms of improving our resilience when it comes to security matters, and so we look to continuing that cooperation in that space,” he said.
“One of my passions now is agriculture and agribusiness and we will look to see how we can share technology, share knowledge and boost agriculture growth and food self sufficiency in Ghana.”
Madam Virginia E. Palmer congratulated the President-elect for his victory in the December 7 polls and said she looked forward to deepening the US-Ghana ties.
