The arrival of Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the foreign minister of Ghana, has sparked speculation about which candidate Bangladesh will support in the upcoming Commonwealth Secretary-General elections.
Botchwey met with her counterpart, Dr Hasan Mahmud, on Tuesday and is scheduled to call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the evening. Her visit, which began on Monday, is part of her campaign for the election.
The election will take place during the head of state meeting in Samoa on October 21 with the theme "One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth".
“There was a discussion about the upcoming election of Secretary General in Samoa. The foreign ministry is aware of her candidature and will look into it” foreign ministry’s Director General (Africa) AFM Zahid Ul Islam said when asked, at a briefing.
He said during the meeting, Foreign Minister Dr Mahmud pushed for selling Bangladeshi products in Ghana particularly pharmaceuticals, jute and jute products, ceramics, and garment products.
“The foreign minister also showed interest in getting land leases for contract farming,” he said. “The foreign minister proposed during his Uganda visit also. Our people will go there for agricultural production. People of both countries will benefit,” he said about the proposal.
Bangladesh conducted a fact-finding mission for contract farming in African countries in 2010.
Ghana is a country in West Africa. It adjoins the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Togo in the east.
It is one of the leading countries in Africa because of its considerable natural wealth. Bangladesh and Ghana enjoy warm diplomatic relations and both countries show interest in strengthening the ties. Neither country has a resident ambassador.
Ghana is the current chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF). Bangladesh has led the forum before.
Director General Zahid Ul Islam said the candidates list would be finalized after March 31. “Then we can tell who will be the candidates."
But as per available information, he said Tanzania withdrew its candidature. Now, Gambia, Lesotho, and Ghana are in the race.
In the last Commonwealth head of states meeting, it was agreed that the next secretary-general would be from the African region.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries. It is home to 2.5 billion people and includes both advanced economies and developing countries. Of them, 33 members are small states, including many island nations.
The Commonwealth's roots go back to the British Empire. But today any country can join the modern Commonwealth. The last two countries to join the Commonwealth were Gabon and Togo in 2022.