Ghana on track to address maritime security issues – Dep. Foreign Minister

Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mohammad Habibu Tijani, has said Ghana has commenced a process to delimit the maritime boundary between Ghana and Togo.

Government would also strengthen the legal regime on piracy and maritime crime by moving the Ghana Maritime Offences Bill forward to enhance the maritime criminal justice system to be able to effectively prosecute prospective offenders within Ghana’s maritime jurisdiction.

The Deputy Minister also outlined challenges and commitments in addressing Ghana’s maritime security threats at the just-ended 5th “Our Ocean” Conference in the Indonesian city of Bali.

This year’s conference, the first to be held in Asia gathered over 600 commitments which is valued at about US$ 18 billion and created 12.4 square kilometers of marine protected area.

The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon Mohammad Habibu Tijani led a delegation to represent the Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs at the conference.

The Hon. Deputy Minister was joined by Ghana’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, H.E. Akua Ahenkra and other officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. At the conference, the Hon. Deputy Minister presented a Statement on “Ghana’s Initiatives in addressing maritime security issues” on a panel.

Indonesia-Africa Maritime Dialogue was also held on the sideline. It was attended by Senior Officials from Indonesian institutions and officials from African countries including Ghana. Other representatives from Fish-I African, Global Fishing Watch, Interpol, and UNODC were also present.

The Minister cited piracy and armed robbery, illegal oil bunkering or theft of crude oil, threat to offshore oil and gas production, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU)fishing, arms, drugs and human trafficking as the major threats to maritime security that Ghana faces.

He assured everything possible was being done to address the concerns.

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Source: Citinewsroom.com | Ghana

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