Ghana has commissioned its mission in Oslo, Norway, on Tuesday— the first in the history of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The short but colourful ceremony was held at the new embassy which is located at 1 Akersgater in the centre of Oslo, on the fifth floor of a seven-storey building. The location was rented by the Government of Ghana on the basis of a five-year lease agreement.
The facility has a consular section, offices for the head of chancery, political and economic officer, reception, accounts, secretary, conference room and the ambassador’s office.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, stated categorically that “it is a rented property; this is not the property Ghana wanted to buy.”
She said the decision to establish the mission in Norway was, among others, to provide welfare and consular services to the almost 3,000 Ghanaian residents in the Scandinavian country and to deepen the bilateral relations between the two countries and to vigorously undertake trade and investment activities to attract foreign direct investment into various sectors of the Ghanaian economy.
The Minister was confident that the opening of the mission would further consolidate and heighten the diplomatic, economic, trade and investment ties for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries.
Ghana’s Ambassador to Norway, Jennifer Lartey, on behalf of her staff, promised to work assiduously to execute their mandate.
Present at the ceremony was Norway’s Ambassador to Ghana, Gunnar Holm.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has commissioned Ghana’s rented Diplomatic Mission in Oslo, Norway to serve some three thousand (3,000) Ghanaians who are domiciled in that country.
The commissioning ceremony of the five-year lease rented facility was held on Monday the 24th of February 2020, on the sidelines of President Akufo-Addo’s official State visit to Norway.
The plan to open a Diplomatic Mission in Norway was first announced by the Minister for Foreign
Affairs in September 2018 after President Akufo-Addo and the Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, held bilateral talks in New York on the sidelines of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, USA.
It will be recalled that, last year, the Minority spokesperson on foreign affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, alleged on the floor of Parliament that government had bought a property in Norway at an inflated price of $12 million dollars, to be used as an embassy but the Speaker of Parliament Prof. Mike Oquaye rejected his evidence and ruled that they were unreliable.
