Ghana Elected Fist Vice President of ATLAFCO

Accra, 29 July, GNA - Ghana has been elected Vice President at the Just ended Ministerial conference of African States Bordering the Atlantic Ocean (ATLAFCO) held in Rabat Morocco this month. A statement by the Ministry of Fisheries said Ghana was elected at the sixth session of the Ministerial Conference by acclamation and would serve a two-year term from 2005 to 2007 whiles Cote d'Ivoire would hold the presidency.

The Ministerial Conference of ATLAFCO, which was establish in April 1, 1989 consists of 22 members states in conformity with the provision in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. ATLAFCO was established with an objective of enhancing cooperation in the area of fisheries management and development as well as enhancing and coordinating the efforts of member states. It is among other things to upgrade and market fisheries resources considering fish stocks occurring within the waters under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of more than one country. At the end of the three-day Ministerial Conference, member states, however, agreed that Ghana should hold herself in readiness to host the seventh session of the conference if, Ivory Coast were unable to create the conditions to host it.

Mrs Gladys Asmah, the Sector Minister, who led a three-member delegation, held discussions with Mr Mohand Lanser, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Maritime Fisheries of Morocco. The meeting centred on an agreement signed with Morocco in 2003 to revamp the fishing industry and how that country could provide training, technical and scientific research in aquaculture, marine fisheries and fish processing. Mr Mohand Lanser promised to dispatch to Ghana a team of fish scientists and expert to conduct a need assessment in the fisheries sector. Mrs Asmah also met with Mr Kobina Annan Ghana's Ambassador to Morocco who said the Ghanaian Embassy in Morocco would organise an investment forum in November this Year.