The Second Foreign Office Consultations between the Foreign Ministries of Ghana and India, has been held in Accra.

Mr Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, commended both sides for the determination and desire to hold the consultations despite the unprecedented difficult and challenging times of COVID-19.

"Our presence here today is an expression of the importance our respective governments attached not only to these consultations, but in particular, to efforts aimed at further strengthening the already exemplary and longstanding relations between our two countries and peoples," he said.

Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said the Foreign Office Consultations between the Foreign Ministries of Ghana and India were an institutional mechanism, adopted through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to guide bilateral engagements and define the scope of future cooperation.

He recalled that the inaugural Foreign Office Consultations between Ghana and India were held in New Delhi, on Wednesday, 28th August, 2019.

Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said amongst the issues discussed at the inaugural consultations were the review of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the areas of exchange of visits, promotion of trade and investments, technical cooperation, developmental partnership, capacity building, and people-to-people linkages.

He expressed the hope that the Second Foreign Office Consultations would provide a unique platform for stock taking and the evaluation of relations and the identification of new areas of cooperation.

The Deputy Minister also hoped that it would provide an opportunity to redress areas of concern to further consolidate relations.

He entreated both sides to take advantage of the important event to clarify their positions on daunting issues for their collective and mutual benefit.

Mr Sugandh Rajaram, the High Commissioner of India to Ghana, said the Consultations would enable them to identify areas for strengthening the relationship between the two nations.