Ghana’s Ambassador to South Korea, Kojo Choi, has reviewed his first year in Seoul and said his second will focus on jobs, investment and opportunities for Ghanaian workers.
In a social media post, Mr Choi said the first year was spent opening doors, rebuilding relationships and raising Ghana’s profile. The second, he said, has to be about walking through them.
He said President John Dramani Mahama’s state visit to Korea moved issues that had been stuck for more than a decade forward, key among them a visa-waiver arrangement for Ghanaian diplomatic and service passport holders.
“We achieved a visa-waiver arrangement for Ghanaian diplomatic and service passport holders, while continuing to work towards greater mobility for ordinary Ghanaian passport holders.
“We are working with Korean labour, justice and immigration authorities to explore opportunities for Ghanaian workers to access the Korean labour market,” he said.
He said a Ghana-Korea climate change agreement has been achieved and will open the way to projects, technology and investment once it is ratified.
Korea’s ambassador to Ghana, Kyongsig Park, has said a framework agreement on climate change cooperation was signed at the March bilateral summit.
On the diplomatic side, Mr Choi said Ghana co-hosted the Korea-Africa Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Seoul and took an active part in the Korea-Africa Finance Ministers’ Conference.
“Ghana is being heard,” he wrote.
The ambassador added that “If you would ask me what I achieved in my 1 year in Korea, my answer would be, ‘It was about putting Ghana where Ghana belongs: At The Table’.”
Mr Choi was born in Korea, left at 14 and grew up in Ghana. He said returning as ambassador is a responsibility he does not take lightly.
Check his full post below:
