Ghana and Burkina Faso have formed a joint mining technical team to make mining activities more effective for mutual benefit.
At the signing ceremony in Accra, when Dr Bashir Ismael Ouedrago, Burkinabe Minister for Energy, Mining and Quarry, paid a courtesy call on him, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, said Ghana was ready to cooperate with Burkina Faso for the extraction of natural resources in their respective countries.
“The capital flight impacting Burkina Faso and Ghana in the mining sector is troubling, and we must work together to solve it,” the Minister said.
He noted that the signing of bilateral mining ties would improve links between President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Burkinabe counterpart, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
Dr. Bachir Ismael Ouedraogo praised the Minister’s call for a possible Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries, saying that the cooperation on mining between Burkina Faso and Ghana meant that “the African is solving the African crisis.”
Plans to build a refinery in Burkina Faso to add value to its minerals were also explored at the conference, as were plans for the two countries to join hands to explore other important areas for mutual benefit.
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With Burkina Faso being a fast-mining destination, the Burkinabe Minister expressed keen interest in Ghana, especially how it was able to formulate local content regulations (Minerals and Mining (local content and local participation) regulations 2020, LI 2431) in the sub-regions.
Bringing young people from Burkina Faso to shadow their Ghanaian counterparts in the mining industry is one of the issues addressed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Mr Pingrenoma Zagre, the Burkina Faso Ambassador to Ghana, was part of the three-member delegation headed by Burkina Faso’s Minister of Oil, Mining, and Queries.
Meanwhile, Mr Jinapor has formed a seven-member Ministerial Planning Committee, headed by Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, Member of Parliament for Atwima-Nwabiagya North Constituency, to oversee the organization of President Akufo-Addo’s National Consultative Dialogue on Small Scale Mining.
SOURCE: ATLFMONLINE
