Ghana has begun two separate bilateral meetings with Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire in Wa in the Upper West Region to harmonise and validate legal texts governing the establishment and operationalisation of Local Groups for Cross-Border Cooperation (LGCBCs) between Ghana and the two neighbouring countries.
The week-long initiative seeks to strengthen cooperation, promote dialogue and facilitate information sharing and joint action among communities and local-level state and non-state actors along the common boundary in the Savannah and Upper West Regions.
The Deputy Commissioner General of the Ghana Boundary Commission (GhBC), Frederick Somuah Obeng at the opening of the first bilateral meeting between Ghana and Burkina Faso indicated that the initiative seeks to build robust and sustainable local structures between the targeted cross-border districts and communities of the two countries.
“…the LGCBCs have the potential to become important platforms for identifying common challenges, developing joint solutions, strengthening community resilience, promoting local development and deepening social cohesion among border communities on both sides of our common boundary”, the Deputy Commissioner General stressed.
Somuah Obeng further stated that the establishment of the LGCBCs is an important local-level dimension to broader bilateral agreements and Conventions that exist between Ghana and Burkina Faso. As such, stakeholders should see the initiative as avenues for practicalising those signed bilateral agreements at the cross-border community level.
“It is important to emphasise that this process is not taking place in isolation. Rather, it forms part of a broader and steadily advancing framework of cooperation between Ghana and Burkina Faso. These Groups should serve as practical avenues for bringing the spirit and objectives of our bilateral cooperation closer to the communities and local authorities that experience the realities of our shared boundary on a daily basis”, he reiterated.
He commended Burkina Faso for its continued cooperation and partnership throughout the process, which began in 2024, and appreciated the GIZ and the African Union Border Programme (AUBP) for their continuous technical and financial support to strengthening relations between Ghana and Burkina Faso.
The Upper West Regional Minister, who co-chaired the meeting, encouraged participants to actively contribute to the discussions, describing the bilateral validation phase as a critical stage in establishing sustainable cross-border cooperation between the cross-border regions.
For his part, the Governor of the Djoro Region and the leader of the Burkina Faso delegation and co-chair of the meeting, Camarade Siaka BARO, expressed appreciation to the Ghana Boundary Commission, the National Boundary Secretariat of Burkina Faso and the political leadership of both countries for their continued commitment to strengthening cooperation and improving the development prospects of communities living along the common boundary.
The West Africa Regional Coordinator of the African Union Border Programme Support Project (GIZ/AUBP), representing the SKBoWa Project, Mamoudou TAPILY, said the LGCBCs are concrete and powerful institutional levers that confer legal personality and the capacity for direct action upon neighbouring local authorities.
