Accra, June 5, GNA - Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has urged Heads of Ghana’s Diplomatic Missions abroad to attend to the consular and welfare needs of Ghanaians residing outside the country expeditiously.
She said these included applications for travel documents, issuing travel advisories, interventions in case of arrests, detentions, repatriations, access to Social Security benefits, deaths of citizens abroad and marriage difficulties.
Madam Botchway said this on Monday in Accra at the opening of a five-day seminar for envoys designate.
The orientation seminar, which is being attended by over 20 new envoys designate, was designed to enable them to tap into the country’s rich pool of highly-experienced and skilled Foreign Service Officers for the benefit of all the participants.
She said the government was committed to ensuring that all Ghanaians from all walks of life in the Diaspora benefitted from Ghana’s foreign policy activities and prides itself with making the ordinary Ghanaian the centre-piece of its foreign policy activities.
“Therefore, we have prioritised the delivery of enhanced consular assistance to our compatriots both at home and abroad, in their dealings with foreign governments, corporate entities and individuals at all times,” she stated.
Madam Botchway encouraged the envoys to facilitate the contributions of Ghanaians in the diaspora to national development as part of government’s new policy on Diaspora Engagement.
She said the contributions of Ghanaians abroad; particularly private remittances contributed in no small measure to supporting monetary stability and engender economic growth.
She said considering the great importance that the government attached to the issue of the engagement of Ghanaians in the Diaspora in support of national development efforts, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had directed the establishment of the Diaspora Affairs Office at the Office of the President, which would collaborate with the Diaspora Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for effective coordination, monitoring and delivery.
Among the dignitaries who graced the occasion were the two Deputy Foreign Ministers Mr Charles Owiredu and Mr Mohammed Habbib Tijani, and the Acting Chief Director of the Ministry, Mr Albert Francis Yankey.
GNA
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