Kufuor returns home after a day's visit to Togo

Accra, Sept.7, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor returned home on Tuesday after a day's official visit to Kara, Togo at the invitation of the Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema.

"The visit is in line with the framework of periodic consultations between the two Heads of State and is a mark of the quality of relations between the two countries," Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, Press Secretary to the President told newsmen on arrival.

He said both Leaders discussed mutual issues and agreed on early resumption of work on the Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation between Ghana and Togo.

He said issues relating to security in the West African Sub-Region were discussed and the two Leaders reiterated their conviction that no lasting development was possible in the Sub-Region without peace, security and stability.

Mr Agyepong said they agreed to reinforce the exchange of information and the system of joint patrols along their common border. He said President Kufuor expressed his satisfaction with the efforts by Togo on normalising relations with the European Union (EU) and its renewed efforts on dialogue between political factions in Togo.

On Sub-Regional issues, President Eyadema paid tribute to President Kufuor for his untiring efforts towards consolidating peace in Liberia, Sierra Leone and towards the settlement of the Ivorian crisis. Mr Agyepong said the two Leaders urged all sides in the Cote d'Ivoire crisis to continue to show goodwill in the implementation of the tenets of the Accra III Agreement.

At the continental level after exchanging views on the situation in the Sudan and the Great Lakes Region, the Leaders expressed the hope that the African Union (AU) interventions would bring about positive developments.

They also underlined the need for all the parties in the developments to resort to dialogue for a lasting peaceful solution to their disputes.

Mr Agyepong said on the international level and as a prelude to the forthcoming 59th Session of the United Nations (UN) in New York this month, the Leaders re-affirmed their determination to work collectively with the international community to combat international terrorism. President Eyadema is expected to pay a reciprocal visit to Ghana next month.