General News of Friday, 19 April 2013
Source: graphic.com.gh
Iran has offered to train Ghanaian undergraduate students in petroleum and petrochemical engineering.
Ghana and Iran have also agreed to collaborate in disaster management and narcotics control.
These were contained in a communique’ issued at the end of the two-day state visit by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Ghana.
He was accompanied by high-ranking members of his Cabinet and leaders of some government and private organisations from Iran.
During the visit, President John Dramani Mahama and President Ahmadinejad led their respective delegations in bilateral talks which covered a wide range of issues bordering on political, economic, cultural and technical cooperation between Ghana and Iran.
The communiqué said the two nations agreed that in order to set the appropriate tone for dynamism in Ghana-Iran relations, all outstanding matters within the Ghana/Iran Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation should be dealt with before its next session to be held in Tehran in the third quarter of the year.
It said Ghana and Iran had underscored the need for the exchange of high-ranking political, economic and cultural delegations with the objective of further enhancing consultations between the two countries to achieve world peace.
On international and regional issues, the communiqué said given that President Ahmadinejad was the current Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Ghana being one of the founder members of NAM, the two Presidents extensively discussed issues relating to the movement.
It said the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to NAM’s principles and goals and agreed that the movement remained “a useful and relevant organisation for South-South cooperation”.
On terrorism, it said the two sides condemned any act of terrorism anywhere in the world and urged that differences be resolved through dialogue.
On the Middle East situation, the two countries welcomed the need for continuous dialogue in bringing peace, stability and security to the region.
The communiqué said the two sides reaffirmed the necessity of maintaining peace and stability and supported the positions and actions of the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Mali, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As part of the visit, President Ahmadinejad visited the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum to lay a wreath and pay his respects at the tomb of Ghana’s first President.
President Ahmadinejad has since left Accra for Tehran.