GHANA-EGYPT RELATIONS Sinare:'Economic diplomacy, my priority'

Ghana's new ambassador to Egypt Alhaji Said Sinare has dismissed recent criticisms of his appointment by Dr. Sekou Nkrumah, last child of Ghana's founding President as mere baiting by a mad man.

Sinare said in a pre-departure interview in Accra that Mr. Nkrumah's comments were unfortunate given the closeness that had earlier existed between them; and, the fact that he (Sinare) played a key role in the former's admission as member of Ghana's ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Sinare: "It's unfortunate because he's my junior brother. We grew up together; we were very close. And, it was through me that they brought him into the NDC (National Democratic Congress). But he left us without telling me, or even letting me know the reason for his doing so. And, I have been a very good friend. So for him to make those comments is very unfortunate. But be that as it may, however, my response is guided by the wisdom in some of our African proverbs that when you are taking your bath and a mad man comes and snatches your towel, and you go out there naked chasing the mad man: then who is the mad man? So, that is my reaction to Sekou's criticism or whatever comments he made about me; I need not say more than that".

Sekou had made a mockery of the President Mill's recent appointment of Sinare as Ghana'sambassador to Egypt, describing it as a joke.

"What value is he going to add," he wondered of Sinare's appointment. He alleged that "He (Sinare) is the same person who when I had problems with Mills was trying to tell me to be patient" stating that the patience Sinare was talking about was to get something for himself. According to him, "people are just supporting personalities and governments just to get something for themselves."

But Sinare, who assessed Ghana-Egypt relations as cordial and close, said there was still room for improvement, however. He promised to bring that improvement through economic diplomacy which he said would be the main thrust of his tenure as Ghana's ambassador to Cairo.

"Our priority is going to be economic diplomacy: identifying areas of economic benefit in our relations with Egypt. We are going to see how best we can get the Egyptians to look into those goods that they are purchasing from Ghana. It cannot be a one-way thing; it does not have to be one product also. We have so many products that they can be interested in. For instance, we have the best cocoa products in the world. We also have a lot of gold. So, these are some of the areas that I am going to encourage the Egyptians to also come down here and buy from us so that trade between us does not remain a one-way thing," the envoy stated.

Sinare, however, had a word of caution for Ghanaian investors eyeing the Egyptian economy. They must be proactive in identifying and exploiting the new business opportunities that the new focus on economic diplomacy would necessarily throw up.

"Egypt is a very big country. And there are lots and lots of industries there. So, if you are going there, you must be very prepared to do business there; because it is not going to be easy. I will, however, want to encourage our people to go into the cocoa business in Egypt; establish plants in Egypt, that is cocoa-processing plants like what we have here in Ghana," the envoy counseled.