By Francis Kobena Tandoh
The Chinese Embassy in Ghana hosted a reception in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Friday to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Ghana.
Find the speech delivered by Ghanaian Vice President Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang at the ceremony below;
Permit me to address Your Excellencies, Friends, and Colleagues and extend warm congratulations to the People’s Republic of China on their national day, especially on the 76th Anniversary, congratulations.
And I do this on behalf of His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, the government, and the people of Ghana. This is also 65 years of Ghana-China diplomatic relations. So we have many reasons to celebrate today, and our celebration was founded on two very, very important people, not only because of the time but also because of the way they thought, and I refer to Chairman Mao and our own Kwame Nkrumah.
So our relationship goes back to 1960; it’s a long relationship, and we should be proud of it, and the two of them have laid the foundation that has been a most enduring diplomatic partnership.
This partnership has survived many generations, many governments, and this is again because of the reasons that have shaped this relationship.
As a result, we must be mindful of our shared historical memory and the lessons we have learnt going forward. We acknowledge the initiatives from China and how they align with our commitment, and we also acknowledge the ways in which we can even forward-look the relationship even more.
So, what are some of the issues we should be interested in? We know that there has been steady growth in our relationship in terms of trade, and today, as the Ambassador said, it has reached very great heights, but we also know that Ghana is determined to ensure that our trade and our relations translate into sustainable local development, and we want to emphasize our brilliant, determined youth.
We acknowledge the role of China in the development of our infrastructure, and I refer to roads, bridges, hospitals, educational facilities, and even cultural exchanges, but in all of this, as I said, we want our emphasis to go on our youth.
So what should be our current outlook? We are implementing our 24-hour economy program, which emphasizes the creation of jobs, modernization, connectivity, export, and the attendant many, many more opportunities. This means, then, that the race has the potential to deepen our relationship and collaboration with China in many areas, including energy, renewable power, digital technology, trade facilitation within the African Continental Free Trade Area, and others.
I would like to stress the importance of principles like mutual respect, a win-win partnership, and prosperity that reaches our most vulnerable.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the foundations of the relationship should be continuously maintained, built on the basis of true partnership and true friendship. In this light, I would like to acknowledge the importance of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchange, and what some of us find most attractive is the emphasis on people-to-people.
We would like to commend the Confucius Institutes and the medical missions, and at the same time, we want to emphasize the exchange of ideas and the exchange of techniques.
We believe that the entire world must be at peace; you cannot have only one part at the peace level. We are also very much interested in enhancing balanced exchanges so that collaborations among our institutions will be enhanced in science, in technology, and in all areas of disciplines, since they all combine in advancing the development of any nation.
Also, I envisage, and I think many Ghanaians also do, that we are looking forward to times when we have more investments, we have more Ghanaian investments also in China, and I would like to emphasize that it doesn’t really matter what everybody brings to the table, but everybody brings something of value, and that value needs is to be respected.
Under our President, Mahama, the country is ready to implement the outcomes of the ministerial meeting on coordinators on the implementations of the follow-up actions, and we look forward to working very closely with China in delivering practical benefits to our people.
We also hope that projects like the Aflao market, which gladdens my heart no less, because the market is usually the place for women—I know men also work there, so I’m always about anything, any initiative that ensures that our women can work in safety and in dignity, so I want to thank you for that.
So, we are hoping and working to ensure that our relationship, the Ghana-China relationship, continues to grow between our people in a strong, respectful, and sustainable way. Long live China, long live Ghana.
I thank all of you for your kind attention.
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