The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Otiko Djaba, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Kuwait in Ghana, Mr Mohammed Hussain Al-Failakawi, made the pledge at an event to mark the 56th National Day of the State of Kuwait organised by the Kuwaiti Embassy in Accra last Friday.

Mr Al-Failakawi congratulated President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his accession to the high office of President of the Republic of Ghana and wished him success.

The Ambassador noted that the diplomatic ties between Ghana and Kuwait dated as far back as 1974, saying: "Since that historical moment, the diplomatic relationship between the two friendly countries has been steadily and continuously growing as fruits of relentless efforts and good examples exerted by predecessor Amirs and heads of state of the two countries."

He said the relationship still existed between the Amir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and President Akufo-Addo.

Royal initiatives

Mr Al-Failakawi said following the launch of a $1 billion Royal Initiative for Africa by the Amir at the Third Afro-Arab Summit in Kuwait in 2013, Kuwait had since disbursed $700 million in concessionary loans.

He said Ghana accessed $24 million of the $700 million last year and indicated that the country still had the chance to access more soft loans from the remaining $300 million of the initiative before the expiration at the end of 2018.

He said Kuwait had invested another $1 billion, through the Kuwait Investment Authority, in infrastructure development in Africa, along with the World Bank and its related organisations and the China African Development Fund.

Ghana's response

Ms Djaba congratulated the Amir of Kuwait, the government and people of Kuwait on their 56th National Day and the 26th anniversary of that country's liberation from an invasion that took place in 1991.

She said the Ghana government, under the leadership of President Nana Akufo-Addo, was poised to delivering policies to propel the country's socio-economic development.

"It is the solemn pledge of the new administration to build a strong thriving democratic nation in which economic opportunities will exist for all the good people of Ghana," she said.

Ms Djaba noted that in a global world, there was the need for countries to reach out to one another to build bridges in the pursuit of common aspirations for prosperity, peace, security and stability.

She said the government was committed to strengthening the historic relations between the two countries at the bilateral and multilateral fronts.