The Spanish Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Excellency Alicia Rico del Pulgar on Wednesday, 21st July, 2021 payed a farewell call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey in Accra.
H. E Ms. Alicia Rico del Pulgar began her tenure as the Spanish Ambassador to Ghana in 2017. She is a career diplomat and previously served as the technical advisor in the cabinet of the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1993 as well as a Deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry in 2008.
Honourable Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey acknowledged Ghana and Spain bilateral relations dating back to the 1960s, which have expanded over the years into several areas including health, education, trade, water and sanitation, construction, support to the security sector, energy and fishing in farewell call by the Ambassador.
She applauded the outgoing Spanish Ambassador for her highly distinguished work in Ghana, which has elevated the cordial relations between Ghana and Spain to a higher pedestal exemplified by the exchange of high level visits including the two-day working visit of the President of the Republic to Spain in March, 2021 to participate in the launch of Spain’s Action plan dubbed “Focus Africa 2023” as well as the two-day official visit to Ghana of H.E. Madam Cristina Gallach Figureas, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain.
Honourable Ayorkor highlighted some notable achievements of the Ambassador during her tour of duty in Ghana such as Spain’s enhanced cooperation with Ghanaian security authorities and her interventions leading to the construction of an ultra-modern ICT centre in Tamale, capacity building programmes for civil servants and donations of vehicles and IT equipment to equip the security services of Ghana.
The outgoing Ambassador also facilitated the visit of the Spanish trade mission to Ghana in November 2019 for the Spain-Ghana Chamber of Commerce event.
The revival of the Spanish Year Abroad Programme to enable more Ghanaian students benefit from linguistic immersion in institutions of higher learning in Spain, were among other things some notable contributions by the Ambassador’s tour of duty in Ghana
The outgoing Ambassador also facilitated the signing of an agreement between Ghana and Casa Africa for a cultural cooperation project named ‘Ghana Vis-a-vis’, which aims at giving opportunities to Ghanaian artistes to showcase their work through Spanish outlets to with a view to engendering collaborations with music directors from Spain
Honourable Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey used the farewell call to express her appreciation on behalf of the government of Ghana to the Spanish Government for the donations of PPEs to assist the country to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She Urged the outgoing Spanish Ambassador to be an advocate for Ghana and promote Government’s flagship programmes abroad, particularly, the “One-District, One-Factory”, “One-Village, One Dam” and the “Planting for Food and Jobs” to attract technical and financial support from Spain for the full realization of these flagship programmes;
She encouraged the outgoing Spanish Ambassador to promote Ghana as a tourism destination and add that Ghana is open and willing to cooperate and learn from Spain since they have a very vibrant and thriving tourism sector, equipped with the latest logistics, technical know-how and efficient services;
Honourable Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey concluded by affirming Ghana’s commitment to promoting friendly and cooperative relations with Spain and expressed the hope that even after completion of her duty tour in Ghana, she will continue to be a close friend of Ghana and further support the enhancement of the relationship between the two countries.
Source :Kessbenonline.com /johnawuniktv@gmail.com
