Ghana, Morocco To Intensify Ties � Envoy

The Moroccan Ambassador to Ghana, Nezha Alaoui M�hammdi, has given the assurance that the bilateral relations between Ghana and Morocco will further be strengthened to enable the two countries to benefit from each other. In line with this, Morocco and Ghana will continue to share experiences in critical areas of the economy such as agriculture, housing, tourism and education. The Moroccan Ambassador to Ghana, who stated this in an interview to commemorate the celebration of the National Day of the Kingdom of Morocco, which falls today, said dialogue between the two countries would lead to greater mutual understanding. �We believe that only mutual co-operation can develop confidence, leading to greater understanding for growth and development,� she said. She stated that her country�s ties with Ghana began about 50 years ago when the two countries collaborated to fight colonialism and attain independence. By appointing an ambassador to Ghana, the King of Morocco, according to Nezha M�hammdi, was committed to strengthening Moroco�s relationship with Ghana. Economic ties According to the envoy, Moroccan investors have a number of investments in Ghana, which have resulted in the establishment of financial institutions such as the Bank of Africa and Saham Insurance. She also said a Moroccan construction firm, Addoha Group, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Ghana to construct 10,000 social housing units over seven years, valued at 250 million euros. To ensure essential materials needed for the construction of the social housing units are made in Ghana, Nezha M�hammdi stated that Addoha Group had begun the construction of a cement factory at Tema, valued at 60 million euros. �I would like to stress that this investment, which is totalling about 250 million euros, represents the equivalent of 50 per cent of imports of Ghana from its trading partner China, and raises Morocco as a strategic investor for Ghana,� she said. One essential objective of the embassy in Ghana, according to Nezha M�hammdi, is to create more business partnerships between Moroccan investors and Ghanaian businessmen. Making a case for working partnerships between businessmen in the two countries, Nezha M�hammdi said that was necessary to propel both economies. �The Kingdom of Morocco has a lot of experience and expertise in the tourism sector and we want to create a forum later this year for Moroccan investors and local businessmen to see how partnerships could be formed to achieve economic growth,� she added. Support programmes Commenting on the support programmes of the embassy in Ghana, Nezha M�hammdi said the embassy had, for the past 10 years sponsored a lot of Ghanaians to undertake various undergraduate and graduate programmes in Morocco. She was of the belief that the scholarship scheme would help address the human resource challenges facing the country in the areas of health, education, tourism and agriculture. Nezha M�hammdi said in their bid to suppress extremism in Africa and beyond, the Moroccan government had initiated a programme to train selected imams in Tunisia, Guinea, Mali and Senegal. �The root of extremism is education or non-education; if young people become extremist, it is because they did not have access to the right education because there is no religion that promotes violence,� she said. Challenges While acknowledging the successes, political and economic strategies, Nezha M�hammdi indicated that the different languages spoken by both countries were a challenge in the past, and added that increased investments by Moroccan investors were an indication that that challenge was being addressed. French is the dominant language spoken in Morocco while English is the dominant formal language spoken in Ghana. Nezha M�hammdi said technology was making it easier to bridge the gap of communication between the two countries.