350 children can now have access to quality education in the rural cocoa growing community, thus decreasing the risk of them engaging in child labour on cocoa farms.

The school was built by the Didier Drogba Foundation, with the support of Nestlé and the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI).

The Didier Drogba Foundation, Nestlé and ICI share the common objective of helping children live healthier lives and helping develop thriving resilient communities.

Like any public school, the Didier Drogba School will be handed to the government to run.

The idea is to address the acute shortage of educational facilities in the rural areas of Côte d’Ivoire where children often have to walk several kilometres to the nearest school.

There was already an existing school, but this was made of mud and didn’t have the requisite infrastructure to facilitate learning.

The community now welcomes a life-changing opportunity of having a new school built with facilities to aid learning.

With 6 classrooms, a kindergarten class, a school canteen, school latrines, a football field and 3 teachers’ homes to attract qualified teachers, the new school will contribute to the physical, social and academic performance of the children in the village of Pokou-Kouamekro.

Didier Drogba strongly believes that education is important for the physical and mental development of children, and the support of international companies like Nestlé, to our action, will help make these communities a better place”.

Didier Drogba said, “We have been working on this project for the last two years and I am very proud to see it completed. The belief of my foundation has always been if we give children access to health and education, we will build future generations of doctors, scientists, businessmen and women and that is how we build a better Africa. When I started working with Nestlé. I explained our vision and they have given us great logistical help and support on the ground to make the construction of this school a reality”

“We are pleased to collaborate with the Didier Drogba Foundation on this 2-year project because access to quality education is fundamental to securing a better future for children. The Didier Drogba Foundation promotes education, sustainability and sports, as a means to help children have a brighter future Nestlé is tackling child labour by building educational infrastructure. The Didier Drogba Foundation has done great work” said Stanislas Guedj, Country Manager for Nestlé Côte d’Ivoire.

“It is an important asset to building resilient and thriving cocoa growing communities as well as eradicating child labour. Every child’s place is in school.”

Speaking at the event, Euphrasie Aka, Regional Representative for West and Central Africa for ICI, stressed its commitment to tackle child labour in cocoa-farming communities.

“With Nestlé, ICI is strongly committed to providing a lasting change because we believe that every child deserves the chance to create its own future”.

–

Source: Didier Drogba Foundation

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The move will now allow the two countries to enact common laws and use workable strategies to improve cocoa yields.

In order to ensure a much better involvement in the international pricing of cocoa, the two Governments, through their respective cocoa institutions, namely the Coffee-Cocoa Board for Côte d’Ivoire, and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), agreed to adopt common policies on the marketing, storage and processing, and promotion of local consumption of cocoa.

Ghana’s Lands and Natural Resources Minister, John Peter Amewu, who spoke to media after the meeting on Monday, said, “the meeting was to agree to a roadmap to a framework of the actions, that the two countries intend to put forward an issue of climate change. We know that this has become very predominant across the world and as neighbours with a common goal, we are more interested in collaborating to achieve the objectives we set.”

“We thought it wise to come together and present a common joint action. Don’t forget that Ghana and Ivory Coast have already had some strategic partnerships at government to government level, which was witnessed just about two weeks ago.”

He noted that “This is in preparation for our deforestation program in terms of degradation which is as a result of illegal small scale mining. This we know is contributing to the reduction in cocoa production. We also want to make sure that we contain and maintain our forest and prepare it for the future generation.”

Cote D’Ivoire remains the world’s leading producer of cocoa, whilst Ghana is second.

In the 2015/2016 crop year, about 1.58 million metric tons of cocoa beans were produced in Côte d’Ivoire.

Ghana on the other hand, bagged only 690,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans for the 2015/2016 crop season, despite a target of 850,000 metric tonnes. It therefore missed its target by 160,000 metric tonnes.

The shortfall was attributed to poor managerial policies of the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), and unfavourable weather conditions.

Figures from Cocobod indicated that, the country’s highest output for cocoa production was 1,024,552 metric tonnes which was recorded in the 2010/2011 crop season.
–
By: Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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About 40 tonnes of trafficked ivory was recovered, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) report says.

While poaching killed 111,000 African elephants over the last decade, in most places it appears to be levelling off.

Cites has welcomed the news but sounded a note of caution.

“The global collective effort that is underway is starting to reap positive results, but we are certainly not there yet,” the organisation’s Secretary-General John Scanlon said.

The report said the record weight of seizures could be down to better awareness and law enforcement.

It comes despite there being an increase in the amount of ivory being carved into bangles and pendants in Africa, rather than just being exported as tusks to Asia which are easier to intercept.

Mr Scanlon said there was particularly good news in Eastern Africa, which has been badly hit by poaching in the last decade.

“There has been a steady decline in poaching levels since its peak in 2011, and the analysis from 2016 concludes that overall poaching trends have now dropped to pre-2008 levels,” he said.

While the outlook for elephants looks good in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia, in central Africa there have been “dramatic losses of elephant populations” over the last decade, with “levels of illegal killing remaining very high”.

He said that it was now imperative for conservationists “to drive home the advantage we have while the political momentum is with us”.

–

Source: BBC

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Following a declaration by Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, that the dispute and its eventual resolution had strengthened the relationship between the two neighbouring nations, the Committee has been put in place to ensure that the terms of the judgement are upheld.

[contextly_sidebar id=”yACCiua8DQ5o8i2FvfGH4lfnZHmoJs6J”]The Chamber in a unanimous decision on Saturday, September 23, 2017, had ruled that there has not been any violation on the part of Ghana on Côte d’Ivoire’s maritime boundary.

The Chamber rejected Côte d’Ivoire’s argument that Ghana’s coastal lines were unstable. It also noted that, Ghana has not violated Côte d’Ivoire’s sovereign rights with its oil exploration in the disputed basin.

There were suggestions that the ruling would mar diplomatic ties between the West African neighbours, but this announcement appears to have dismissed those fears.

In a joint communique signed by Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Marcelamon Tanoh, Foreign Affairs Ministers of Ghana and Ivory Coast respectively, on the Ivorian leader’s recent visit, the two nations agreed to cooperate to ensure the Tribunal’s judgement is implemented.

“Both Presidents acknowledged the spirit of brotherliness with which the maritime dispute between the two countries was handled from the beginning, and in this connection, the two leaders expressed their commitment to ensure the smooth implementation of the ruling by the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on the delimitation of the maritime boundaries between the two countries,” the communique said.

“In order to achieve this, the two leaders announced the establishment of a Joint Committee for the Implementation of the ITLOS judgement and indicated that the composition of the Committee would be decided later.”

The two leaders also expressed their commitment towards strengthening the relationship between their nations across various sectors including the economy, cocoa production, defence and transport.

“The two Presidents also agreed to meet at least once every year, alternately in each other’s country to guide and promote the implantation of the common strategic policies,” the communique added.

Nana Addo also presented President Ouattara with  “The Companion of the Star of Ghana, Honorary Division,” which is Ghana’s highest honour for a civilian in honour of his fight against social injustice and his efforts to ensure peace both on the continent and globally.

“President Ouattara expressed his gratitude to President Akufo-Addo for the very warm welcome and brotherly hospitality accorded him and his delegation in Ghana,” the statement concluded.

Below is the joint communique released by the governments of Ghana  

OFFICIAL VISIT TO GHANA BY HIS EXCELLENCY ALASSANE OUATTARA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF COTE D’IVOIRE

1. At the invitation of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, paid a working and friendly visit to Ghana from 16th to 17th October, 2017.

2. President Ouattara was accompanied by a high powered delegation comprising Ministers of State, members of Government and several Senior Officials. The full list of the delegation is attached as Appendix I.

3. The Government and people of Ghana warmly welcomed the Ivorian delegation in a true demonstration of the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality.

4. President Ouattara expressed his appreciation to the Government and people of Ghana for the overwhelming love and enthusiasm shown him from the moment he set foot on Ghanaian soil and indicated that his visit and that of President Akuffo-Addo’s visit to Cote d’ Ivoire in May this year was a clear manifestation of the exemplary ties between the two countries.

5. He thanked the Government and People of Ghana for the immense support and solidarity demonstrated during the Ivorian crisis and fondly recalled the crucial role played by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who was then the Foreign Minister of Ghana, by taking a principled and objective stance that ensured the peaceful resolution of the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire. In this connection, President Ouattara thanked President Akufo-Addo for his personal efforts in ensuring the return of Cote d’Ivoire to the path of democracy.

7. The two Presidents held fruitful deliberations on a wide range of issues in a very cordial and fraternal atmosphere.

8. The two leaders also reviewed Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire bilateral relations, and agreed to continue to build on the existing special bonds of kinship and cooperation for the mutual benefit of their peoples.

9. To this end, both Presidents indicated their commitment to ensure the continuous deepening of brotherly ties beyond the existing framework for bilateral cooperation, such as the Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation, and agreed to boost the
momentum of Ghanaian-Ivorian Cooperation by establishing a strategic cooperation framework referred to as the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), which covers the following areas: a) Defence and Security (b) Cocoa and Cashew and other strategic crops; (c) Maritime Cooperation (d) Mining, Energy and Environment (e) Transport; and (f) Economic Policies.

10. The two leaders noted that peace and security constituted a sine qua non for development and therefore, agreed to strengthen cooperation in the area of Defence and Security to combat human trafficking, money laundering, drug trafficking and the proliferation of arms.

11. Both Presidents agreed to intensify bilateral cooperation for the development of a win-win strategy for a sustainable cocoa industry. In this regard, the two leaders expressed commitment to the ongoing discussions between the Ghana Cocoa Board and Le Conseil Café-Cacao to develop joint marketing strategies in the international trading platform and other related issues in the industry, and pledged to work together to enhance border security to curb the smuggling of cocoa.

12. Both Presidents acknowledged the spirit of brotherliness with which the maritime dispute between the two countries was handled from the beginning and, in this connection, the two leaders expressed their commitment to ensure the smooth implementation of the ruling by the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on the delimitation of the maritime boundaries between the two countries.

13. In order to achieve this, the two leaders announced the establishment of a Joint Committee for the Implementation of the ITLOS judgement and indicated that the composition of the Committee would be decided later.

14. The two Presidents also agreed to meet at least once every year, alternately in each others country to guide and promote the implantation of the common strategic policies.

15. After two days of deliberations, the two countries signed the following Agreements:

 Strategic Partnership Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the Government of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire;

 Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the Government of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire for Geological and Mineral Cooperation;

 Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the Government of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire for Industrial Cooperation.

 Memorandum of Understanding for the Establishment of a Joint Technical Experts Sub-Committee for the Monitoring of Pollution from the Illegal
Mining activities in the Bia and Tano River Basins shared between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

16. President Akufo-Addo bestowed the honour of “The Companion of the Star of Ghana, , Honorary Division”, Ghana’s highest civilian national honour on President Ouattara for his untiring efforts at ensuring social justice, peace and security at the domestic as well as the international level for his leadership qualities.

17. President Ouattara expressed his gratitude to President Akufo-Addo for the very warm welcome and brotherly hospitality accorded him and his delegation in Ghana.
DONE AT ACCRA THIS 17TH DAY OF OCTOBER 2017 IN THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH LANGUAGES, BOTH TEXTS BEING EQUALLY AUTHENTIC.
HON. SHIRLEY AYORKOR BOTCHWEY, MP,
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION OF REPUBLIC OF GHANA

H.E. MR. MARCELAMON TANOH

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF COTE D’IVOIRE

–

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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President Alhassan Ouattara is expected to arrive in Ghana for bilateral discussions with President Nana Akufo-Addo.

The roads to be affected by the closures are the Kwame  Nkrumah Avenue towards the Central Business District, Liberation Road towards Central Business District, and the Atta Mills Highway from James Town towards Osu.

The roads will be closed from 11: 00 am and reopened after a scheduled ceremonial procession.

The police will be assisting motorists on alternative routes.

The visit by the Ivorian President comes barely a month after Ghana emerged victorious in a maritime dispute with Ivory Coast at the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Germany.

The two countries have already accepted the decision of ITLOS, and have agreed to work towards implementing the ruling.

Find below a statement from the police

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By: Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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It was a cargo plane carrying freight for the French army, security sources told local news site Koaci.

Reports suggest it was a Ukrainian or Russian turboprop Antonov plane.

It crashed in heavy rain and the wreckage was swept back towards the shore near Port-Bouët.

At least four people were killed, a witness told Reuters news agency.

Rescue workers have removed two bodies from the plane while a further two could be seen in the wreckage, the agency says.

–

Source: BBC

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According to President Akufo-Addo, since his assumption of office in January 2017, he has worked with his Ivorian counterpart, President Alassane Outtara, to provide the necessary leadership for technical and political co-operation that addresses effectively the international cocoa price decline in the short-to-medium term.

“We are fashioning far reaching policies towards achieving a shared vision of an industrialized and prosperous domestic cocoa economy. This, I am sure, will reduce our vulnerability to the volatility of the markets, and help deliver prosperity to our farmers and people,” the President added.

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Monday,when he delivered a speech at this year’s World Cocoa Day celebration, at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi, an event which coincided with the 70^th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the Ghana Cocoa Board.

With price volatilities on the international cocoa market representing perhaps the biggest threat to cocoa producers, President Akufo-Addo bemoaned the fact that the fortunes of Ghanaian farmers, unfortunately, have become tied to the volatile cocoa bean market.

Nonetheless, and in spite of the over 40% drop in world cocoa prices, President Akufo-Addo stated that, his government will ensure that the price review for the coming season will not leave farmers short-changed.

“Indeed, government will make sure that producer prices paid to Ghanaian cocoa farmers remain unchanged, and will be in sync with those of Ivorian farmers,” he said.

Government, the President added, “is also working on the cocoa pension scheme for cocoa farmers, the first of its kind in our history. This will not only benefit cocoa farmers, but all involved in the cocoa value chain.”

Again, with Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire accounting for more than 60% of the world’s cocoa output, and yet earning together, some $5.75 billion out of the sale of cocoa beans, President Akufo-Addo lamented that “the farmers whose toil and sweat produced 60% plus of the world’s cocoa, earned 5.75% of the global value of their activity”, which was a little over $100 billion in 2015.

“This cannot, and should not continue. It is manifest injustice. We have to devise ways of ensuring that our farmers reap much greater value from their toil,” he said.

To this end, the President revealed that he has amongst other measures, directed the Minister for Food and Agriculture to direct COCOBOD to work towards increasing domestic processing of cocoa up from the current levels to a minimum of 50% of annual production by 2020.

This, he stressed, will significantly increase export revenues and foreign exchange earnings from cocoa.

“Processing of cocoa must also go beyond just grinding of the beans, to tertiary manufacturing for table consumption. Chocolate and cocoa products from Ghana should be accessible anywhere on the globe,” he said.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The meeting will see the two parties come up with a plan on how to actualize the judgment of the court.

[contextly_sidebar id=”DKAhuj7b7jLWpfHhqv8dNxhPqdRPIZM8″]The Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid, in an interview with journalists in Accra, said the President will speak formally on the court’s judgment at the meeting.

“In this coming week, the Ivorian President will send envoys to Ghana and together the two governments will tell the world what it is they are willing to do in respect to this judgment. For now, the President will hold his peace until that engagement with the Ivorian envoys, and then we can let the Ghanaian people know what the formal positions of the two governments are with regards to the ITLOS government,” Mustapha Hamid said.

The Special Chamber of ITLOS in a unanimous decision on Saturday September 23, 2017, ruled that there has not been any violation on the part of Ghana on Côte d’Ivoire’s maritime boundary.

It rejected Côte d’Ivoire’s argument that Ghana’s coastal lines were unstable, noting that Ghana has not violated Côte d’Ivoire’s sovereign rights with its oil exploration in the disputed basin.

Justice Boualem Bouguetaia, President of the Special Chamber in reading the judgment, accepted Ghana’s argument of adoption of the equidistance method of delineation of the maritime boundary.

In consideration of the new boundary, the Chamber determined that it starts from boundary 55 -200 nautical miles away, a position much closer to what Ghana was arguing for.

Analysts say Ghana would now have to wait to see how the final map looks, once the coordinates are plotted in the sea using boundary pillar BP 55+ on a common land boundary, as a starting point for drawing the new equidistance line.

In 2014, Ghana took the case to ITLOS to dispel claims it has encroached Cote d’Ivoire’s marine borders as part of oil exploration activities at Cape Three Points, off the shores of the Western Region.

Ghana’s defense held that Cote d’Ivoire was barred from demanding ownership to the disputed area they had acknowledged that Ghana owned without any qualms in the decades leading up to the oil discovery.

Cote D’lvoire, Ghana accept ITLOS judgement on maritime dispute

Agents who represented Ghana and Cote D’lvoire, Gloria Akuffo and Adama Toungara, have already said they accept the  judgement on the case.

This was contained in a joint statement released hours after the Chamber’s judgement on Saturday.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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In 2014, Ghana took the case to ITLOS to dispel claims it has encroached Cote d’Ivoire’s marine borders as part of oil exploration activities at Cape Three Points, off the shores of the Western Region.

Ghana’s defense held that Cote d’Ivoire was barred from demanding ownership to the disputed area it had acknowledged that Ghana owned the space without any qualms in the decades leading up to the oil discovery.

The oral hearings for the dispute were concluded in February 2017.

In 2007, Ghana discovered oil and gas in commercial quantities, and this was followed by Cote d’Ivoire staking its claim to portions of the West Cape Three Points.

These claims were renewed in 2010 after Vanco, an oil exploration and production company announced the discovery of oil in the Dzata-1 deepwater-well.

Cote d’Ivoire petitioned the United Nations asking for a completion of the demarcation of its maritime boundary with Ghana, and Ghana responded by setting up of the Ghana Boundary Commission.

This commission was tasked with the responsibility of negotiating with Côte d’Ivoire towards finding a lasting solution to the problem.

But this commission bore no fruit, and in September 2014, Ghana dragged Cote d’Ivoire to ITLOS after 10 failed negotiations.

ITLOS’s first ruling in 2015 placed a moratorium on new projects, with old projects continuing after Cote d’Ivoire filed for preliminary measures and urged the tribunal to suspend all activities on the disputed area until the definitive determination of the case.

The moratorium prevented Tullow Oil from drilling additional 13 wells. Tullow thus drilled eleven [11] wells in Ghana’s first oil field.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The landmark ruling will be delivered on Saturday, September 23rd after a 3-year long dispute between Ghana and Ivory Coast over maritime boundaries.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1eaVhVq4q6nDY4UVeNS6zE8htumENRsB”]In 2014, Ghana went to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), seeking a declaration that it has not encroached on Cote d’Ivoire’s territorial waters as claimed by the latter.

Speaking to the Bloomberg, President Akufo Addo, maintained that the ruling will inform his government’s decisions.

“The ruling is on Saturday, we are waiting to see what decision will be made and we will see how best we can enforce the ruling of the court,” he said.

While admitting the ruling has economic consequences for Ghana, Akufo-Addo said the government was doing a lot of work to mitigate any negative impact should the ruling go against Ghana.

He said he would make his intentions clear on the way forward for the country after the ruling.

The President, who is currently in the US to attend the United Nationals General Assembly meeting said a previous interview that Ghana would accept whatever ruling is giving by the court.

The Ghanaian and Ivorian teams presented their final arguments before the court in February 2017 but the ruling was moved to September,

President Akufo-Addo, while in Ivory Coast as part of his Africa court earlier this year said, “Whatever the result of that litigation, and, naturally, I hope it goes in favour of Ghana, I want to assure President Ouattara, his government and the Ivorian people of the determination of my government and I to work with you in a healthy manner of co-operation to deal with the consequences of the pending judgment… What is of paramount importance to our two populations is the peaceful exploitation of the maritime resources for their benefit.”

Ghana’s Attorney General Gloria Akufo at the hearing of the case earlier this year argued that the two countries already have an agreement on their maritime boundary, although informal.

Ivory Coast, on the other hand, rejected that claim, calling on the Chamber to declare that Ghana has indeed violated the sovereign rights of Ivory Coast when it unilaterally undertook drilling activities in that boundary.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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