Cote d’Ivoire President, Alassane Ouattara, will from Monday, 16th October, begin a two-day official visit to Ghana.
“This visit is a reciprocal one to the visit made to Cote d’Ivoire by the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in May this year, at the start of his tour of the countries of West Africa,” a statement from the Presidency said.
[contextly_sidebar id=”98kF03h1WuWgpa2BwsSGU5xvB3wrHWN7″]The two Presidents are expected to hold bilateral discussions at the Flagstaff House on Monday, 16th October, 2017, after which the two leaders will address a joint press conference.
President Akufo-Addo will later that evening, host his Ivorian counterpart to an official dinner.
As part of the visit, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will sign a bilateral agreement, and inaugurate a joint commission for the implementation of the recent judgement passed by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on the delimitation of the maritime boundaries of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
Ghana wins maritime dispute case against Ivory Coast
The maritime dispute between Ghana and Cote d’lvoire came to what appears to be a closure on September 23, 2017, after ITLOS ruled largely in favour of Ghana.
The Chamber, in its judgment, held that there has not been any violation on the part of Ghana on Côte d’Ivoire’s maritime boundary.
It further rejected Côte d’Ivoire’s argument that Ghana’s coastal lines were unstable, adding that Ghana had not violated Côte d’Ivoire’s sovereign rights with its oil exploration in the disputed basin in question.
In May 2017, President Akufo-Addo paid a three-day visit to Cote d’Ivoire, at the commencement of his tour of West African countries.
“During that visit, President Akufo-Addo revealed that, the close co-operation between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will be facilitated by a new initiative dubbed “An Agreement For a Strategic Partnership”, that will be signed by the two countries,” the statement from the presidency noted.
This agreement, according to President Akufo-Addo, “will bind Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in even closer intimacy and go beyond the bounds of the concept of the Permanent Joint Commission, which is the conventional tool for co-operation.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana