Israel has made a personal appeal to President John Mahama to use his office as chair of the West African body, Ecowas, to help regularize the country’s status as observers at the AU.
The Israeli foreign minister, Mr Avigdor Leiberman, made the appeal when he paid a courtesy call on President Mahama at the Flagstaff house in Accra.
“I request that we are made to come back to the African Union as observers.
“It seems we’ve lost that status, but with you as ECOWAS chair we hope you support our request”, Mr Avigdor Lieberman told President Mahama.
According to him, although they had maintained their status as observers in AU meetings in previously, they have not been invited to meetings in recent years; a situation he described as worrying.
He called on President Mahama to help return to the status quo, which would see them resume their role in AU meetings as observers.
He was optimistic that this would help foster a much stronger relationship between Israel and Africa as a whole.
Mr Lieberman is in the country as head of a delegation made up of businessmen and security experts, to interact with their Ghanaian counterparts to explore areas of cooperation.
He was optimistic that Israeli investors will take advantage of the conducive business climate in Ghana and increase their investments.
Briefing the President earlier, Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Hannah Tetteh, indicated that the security experts who were part of the delegation had already met with some Ghanaian security chiefs to determine areas of cooperation.
Mr Lieberman had earlier met with Ghanaian and Israeli businessmen to discuss ways of furthering common interest in both countries.
Meanwhile, President Mahama promised to intervene and assured Mr Lieberman that their status as observers during African Union meetings had not been revoked stating that he would work to ensure that they continue in this capacity.
Richard Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana