Swiss foreign minister visits Central and West Africa
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis concluded a three-day tour of Central and West Africa on Sunday. He represented Switzerland at the 44th Ministerial Meeting of the Francophonie in Cameroon, following a bilateral visit to Ghana.
Addressing the 53 other member states of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) meeting this weekend in Yaoundé (Cameroon), Cassis emphasised the role of digital technologies in improving public services and fostering economic and cultural links, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The OIF is to set up a digital resource centre, whose activities will be concentrated in Geneva, to help its members with digital governance.
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At the conference, the member states defined 20 cooperation programmes for the coming years in areas such as education, the rule of law and economic and trade exchanges. With the recent coups d’état in several countries in the Sahel and Central Africa, the OIF is looking at ways of supporting democracy and helping countries in political transition after elections, the foreign ministry said.
On the fringes of the event, Cassis held bilateral talks with his counterparts from Cameroon and Northern Macedonia.
Chocolate and the UN in Ghana
On Friday Cassis met Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey. Economic relations, regional security and cooperation on climate change were on the agenda.
The two countries enjoy “significant economic cooperation”, according to the foreign ministry. Ghana is home to some 60 Swiss companies operating in various sectors, and in 2022 it was Switzerland’s second-largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
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During his stay in Ghana, Cassis visited a traditional chocolate factory supported by Switzerland as part of its economic development cooperation. The company, located in the capital Accra, has received help from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to meet the required food safety standards so that it can export its products to European and American markets in the future.
Cassis praised the positive role played by Ghana in terms of regional stability, particularly in the face of growing instability in the Sahel region and the Gulf of Guinea. Cassis and Akufo-Addo discussed Switzerland’s priorities within the UN Security Council. Like Switzerland, Ghana is a non-permanent member of the UN body this year.
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