Initiative to combat illegal mining and circulation of fake currency

02-07-2011

Narration: Delegates at the end of a 3- day trans-border tripartite meeting at Bolgatanga involving the Savannah Region of Togo, the Central East and South Region of Burkina Faso and the Upper East Region of Ghana have agreed to work towards the facilitation of free movement of goods and services and people through effective implementation of the ECOWAS protocol. A consensus was also build towards the elimination of illegal mining and the circulation of counterfeit currency with support of the security forces of the four regions. The agreement was contained in a joint communiqué signed by heads of the delegations of the four regions. Here is a report by Isaac Asare
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Report

The delegations were headed by the Governor of the Savannah Region of Togo who is also the Chief Executive of Tone, Alhaji Ali Seydou Mossiyamba, the Governor of the Central East of Burkina Faso, Simeon Sawadogo and Raymond Edouard Ouedraogo of the Central South of Burkina Faso who represented as an observer for the meeting. The communiqué came about after hours of deliberation held in plenary and committee sessions in various thematic areas; including culture, security, environment, freedom of goods and services as well as other social, economic and sports among others. The Upper East Regional Minister, Mark Woyongo who read the communiqué expressed his deepest gratitude to his other counterparts and commended the significant progress made so far with regards to the first meeting held two years ago at Tenkoudougou in neighbouring Burkina Faso. He mentioned the return of peace to Bawku, the arrest of a highway robber, Soloma Johnson Kombia and the return of stolen goods and cattle by the Togolese security forces during the road accident involving a Burkinabe bus at Atakpame in Togo, as some of the successes chalked as a result of collaboration existing between the security agencies. He also noted that efforts aimed at fighting cross border crime depend solely on the various security services in the four regions, hence the need to strengthen regional cooperation to achieve the desired objective. Mr. Woyongo therefore called on the Burkinabe and Togolese counterparts to effectively collaborate and explore avenues geared at strengthening trans-border cooperation and peaceful co-existence among their people and moreover, work towards the promotion of decentralized development in their respective countries. The Governor of the Central East of Burkina Faso, Simeon Sawadogo and his Togolese counterpart extended their gratitude to his Excellency President Mills and his government for given them the privilege and support to participate in the meeting. They gave assurance to collaborate in reducing child abuse, Guinea-worm and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) among other social and economic challenges confronting the regions and called on the support of their Ghanaian counterpart. On education, the three countries agreed to embark on educational exchange programme of French and English teachers and students to promote the learning of English and French languages. The move is to bridge language barriers among the three regions for the benefit of trade and free expression. The Savannah Region of Togo was chosen to host the next trans-border tripartite meeting schedule to be held next year.
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