13th Sep 2018 | Elizabeth Sasu
- E. Maria de los Arrirola Aguirre, the Mexican Ambassador to Ghana paid a courtesy call to the new Minister of Aviation, Hon. Kofi Adda, to reinstate their commitment to partner with Ghana in the aviation sector.
This visit comes just two months after she visited the then Minister of Aviation, Hon. Cecilia Abena Dapaah to state same agenda.
The Mexican Ambassador, stated that, there was a lack of communication by air between Latin America and Africa which does not allow for economic growth between the two continents. She said her target was to make Ghana and Mexico strategic economic partners.
Mexico has an open policy with regards to acquiring visas. Visas are long term with multiple entries and facilitation has been given to people to bring travellers into the country, this was according to the Ambassador.
”At the beginning of the 2012 government, Mexico was the 15th main tourist destination in the world, it was the 6th destination by the year 2017 with more than 39 million tourists coming in from all over the world. Just this year, the percentage rose to 11% by the end of the first quater meaning by the end of the year, the number of tourists entering the country will be more than 40 million people. And this was made possible because of the flexibility in acquiring Mexican visas.
She adviced the Minister that, if Ghana wants to see a lot of visitors or tourists in the country, the visa issues need to be addressed by making acquiring visa easier, it should be long term and have multiple entries thereby encouraging the people to come into the country often.
She further stated that, her country was constructing a new airport, which when completed will accomodate 90 million passengers a year making it one of the top modern airports in the world. Mexico wants to be an international hub for passengers who want to travel to Latin America or to the Carribean and since Ghana also wants to be the aviation hub for West Africa, with the construction of the new airport terminal, Terminal 3, which will accomodate about 5 million passengers a year it is only natural to connect the two countries by operating a direct flight. When you look geographically at the map, flying direct between the two countries will be 11 hours, which is like flying from Mexico to Rome.
She came to the meeting prepared with the aviation agreement she discussed previously with Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah two months ago and she signed it in front of everyone present to show the readiness and eagerness of Mexico to start deliberations and works towards bringing in an airline which will fly direct from Mexico to Ghana and vice versa.
Hon. Kofi Adda thanked the Mexican government for its interest in Ghana. He went on to say that, ”we are open to collaboration” and ”we can learn from you being one of the leading countries who have built their tourist sites and have attracted more tourism in the country” and this was made possible because of the aviation sector. He went further to say that, Ghana is opened to receive them and their investments that ”we are more ready than you are”.
Source: gh-aviation
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