The Minister for Transport, Hon. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has said, Ghana and Denmark have a long-standing relationship which has transitioned into strategic partnerships of key sectors within the Ghanaian economy including Maritime transport.

He stated, the first phase of the relationship focused on the establishment of an e-navigation platform, enhancement of maritime safety and the implementation of International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations and standards. In addition, the second phase further enhanced IMO’s compliance and capacity development of the Port of Tema.

The Minister noted, the strategic focus of the phase three of the Strategic Sector Corporation (SSC) would be instrumental in meeting the commitment on Climate Change which was the Declaration on Zero Emission Shipping by 2050 as launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021 (COP26).

He also added that the phase three of the SSC between the two countries will focus on thematic areas as green shipping, Sulphur emissions, green and sustainable port operations, pilot project on enhancing navigational safety for commercial vessels on the Volta Lake using e-navigation.

He made these remarks during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ghana and Denmark at the ministry of Transport.

The programme which started in 2015, was broken down into a 4-year instalment programme, with each stage to be justified by the success of its past project. As such, from 2015 to 2022, Ghana’s maritime industry had benefited from the introduction of e-navigation platforms, modalities to enforce International Maritime Organisation regulations, capacity building for maritime practitioners and law enforcement Agencies and enhanced maritime safety.

He added they were looking at involving Danish Geo-Data and Environmental Protection Agencies so they could focus on new and challenging areas, which would include, greening of the maritime domain, safety of navigation on the Volta Lake and capacity building of pilots and tugboat masters at the Tema port.

Hon. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah applauded the Ghana Maritime Authority for having done what was expected of them in bringing the Volta Lake to an appreciable level of safe navigation by removing tree stumps on fairways, but called on the Agency to do more in ending the occasional accidents on the Volta Lake. “I am happy that Phase III of the SSC agreement was going to look at how best the two countries would come up with mappings, blasting of rocks and chartering of the Lake,’’ he added.