By Jibril Abdul Mumuni
Accra, Sept. 28, GNA – Mr Jakob Linulf, the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, has described the 10-year maritime partnership between Ghana and Denmark as a success.
He cited significant progress in combating piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
He said the multilateral partnership, which involves several key stakeholders with interests in the Gulf of Guinea, had led to a substantial reduction in piracy incidents within the region’s waters.
The Ambassador made the remarks when he hosted maritime experts from more than five African countries at his residence in Accra.
The visit formed part of a two-day Maritime Women Leadership Conference being hosted in Ghana by The Second Women in Maritime of West and Central Africa (WIMOWCA) Regional Conference on Women, Peace and Security in the Gulf of Guinea.
The conference, organised by WIMOWCA in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and supported by the Government of Denmark, brought together representatives from countries across the Gulf of Guinea to discuss ways of enhancing regional maritime security and promoting gender inclusion in the sector.
Speaking on the achievements of the collaboration, Mr Linulf commended the Government of Ghana for its commitment to maritime security.
“You know some of the concrete results that have come out of this partnership? The Government of Ghana has made tremendous efforts in this area, and I think the Government can be very proud of the results achieved together with us and a number of other partners. We have seen the number of piracy incidents decline very significantly,” he said.
Mr Linulf attributed the success to maritime capacity-building programmes and specialised training initiatives implemented by the Danish Government in collaboration with Ghana and other countries in the region.
“One of the reasons we have been able to achieve that is that, together with the Governments of Ghana and Nigeria, we have established training and educational facilities,” he said.
“We have trained more than 1,000 personnel operating in the maritime security sector. Another important feature of our collaboration is our support for coastal surveillance. The construction of patrol boats and the establishment of rapid response teams along the coast have also been major successes of the partnership,” he added.
The Ambassador expressed also concern about growing pollution and environmental degradation along Ghana’s coastline and within its marine environment.
He noted that illegal activities, particularly overfishing, were causing significant damage to marine ecosystems.
“The overfishing and the damage it does to the marine environment are quite alarming,” he said.
Mr Linulf said Denmark had observed recent developments within the maritime landscape of the West African sub-region but cautioned that more work remained to be done.
He emphasised the need for continued investment in maritime infrastructure, particularly in enhancing port capacity and related facilities across the region.
The Ghana-Denmark maritime partnership began in 2015/2016 under Denmark’s Maritime Security Programme for the Gulf of Guinea, funded through the Danish Peace and Stabilisation Fund.
The initiative was launched in response to growing concerns over piracy, armed robbery at sea, illegal fishing, trafficking and other maritime crimes that threatened regional security and international shipping routes in the Gulf of Guinea
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Jibril Abdul Mumuni