By Iddi Yire
Accra, Sept 18, GNA -Madam Abibatou Wane-Fall, the outgoing Mission Chief of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to Ghana, has bid farewell to Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations.
Madam Wane-Fall, who has completed a two-and-half-year duty tour of Ghana, is on reassignment to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
During the meeting, the Minister congratulated Madam Wane-Fall for her leadership and supervision as the IOM Chief of Mission in Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
He also congratulated her for almost 20 years of service in similar roles in Burkina Fasso, Zambia, and Niger.
He remarked that Madam Wane-Fall’s leadership and legacy would make her successor’s work easier and wished her well in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Mr Baffour-Awuah took the opportunity to extend the Ministry’s gratitude to IOM for their continuous support, especially in the areas of facilitating Decent Work, Protection of Migrants Workers and strengthening Labour Migration Governance in Ghana.
The Minister recalled some areas that the Ministry received immense support from IOM, noting right from the development process of the National Labour Migration Policy (NLMP) in 2018 to its implementation after Cabinet approval in 2020.
He also acknowledged other areas of support including assistance to the Ministry to facilitate technical coordinating meetings of the National Labour Migration Working Group meetings, validation of annual Labour Migration Institutional Work plans and standardisation of the Bilateral Labour Agreement.
Others mentioned the template to guide exports of labour migrants and support capacity building upon the return of migrants.
He also reiterated Ministry’s readiness to have continuous collaboration with IOM toward strengthening labour migration governance in Ghana.
He highlighted some activities such as quarterly coordinating meetings, bilateral labour agreement signing, the printing of Labour Migration newsletters and the development of a code of conduct for Private Employment Agencies (PEAs).
He further emphasised the need to prioritise the discussion on social security portability for migrant workers.
In her response, Madam Wane-Fall expressed her gratitude to the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations for their unwavering support during her tenure as resident Chief of Missions in Ghana.
She reiterated IOMs readiness to support the Ministry and also gave the assurance that all the needed processes would be put in place to guarantee her successor cordial and sustained cooperation with the Ministry.
GNA