Ghana and the Czech Republic have enjoyed good standing relations, dating to the era of the Gold Coast, when Ghana was then a British Colony. Bilateral relations between the two countries began at the time with import of textiles, glass, musical instruments and matches from then Czechoslovakia.
The relations between the two countries improved after Ghana won its independence from the British in 1957. Diplomatic relations were established between Ghana and the then Czechoslovakia in October 1959 and the Ghanaian president at the time, Kwame Nkrumah met Antonin Novotny, the President of Czechoslovakia, during the session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 1960 to discuss opportunities for mutual cooperation.
On February 13, 2024, the new Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Republic of Ghana, Pavel Bílek, handed over his Letters of Credence to Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and officially commenced his work. A week ago, I had an interaction with His Excellency Pavel Bílek on the current bilateral relations between Ghana and the Czech Republic.
Question: Great to be meeting you today Your Excellency, how has it been for you since you arrived in Ghana?
Answer: The first months in a new country are perhaps the most important. You get to know the many people who will be important to the success of your work in the country. You are finalizing the plans that you have come with and that you want to implement during your tenure.
But you also get to know the country itself. A country is not only the capital city. I want to get to know the whole of Ghana much more and I have already used this limited period of time to travel to many places outside of Accra. I spent more than a week traveling with my wife around Ghana by car and it was a great experience! I had a chance to see what the different regions look like, but mainly how the Ghanaians are living. Everywhere I went, I have met very friendly and welcoming people, and I have seen with my own eyes the very rich and diverse cultures and traditions of Ghana. And of course, the beautiful nature of the country has amazed me as well.
Together with my wife, we are discovering the country where she was born. Her father used to work in Ghana for several years as a Czech businessman. For her moving here with me therefore means a return back to her birthplace. We have tried to learn as much as possible about Ghana in these first months and we will continue to do so.
Question: How will you describe yourself – your upbringing and career journey?
Answer: I was born and grew up in a mid-sized town in former Czechoslovakia, primarily known for the production of the Skoda cars, before moving away to university. I then started my diplomatic career in 1988, and in the close to four decades of work for the Czech government, I have had the privilege to represent my country on a number of important tasks and missions.
I have extensive experience in European affairs, bilateral diplomacy and I’ve completed diplomatic postings in Hungary, Portugal, Malaysia and most recently served as Head of the Mission in Kosovo. This combination of experiences has taught me a lot, primarily about the importance of people and human relations in anything to do with international cooperation and development.
In addition, as a particularly important period in my career, I would definitely mention the work during the time of preparations for the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union and also the first years of our membership. It was a very dynamic period with a lot of intensive work where I’ve learned a great amount of experience.
Question: Becoming a diplomat, was it a childhood dream or an accident? What has been your experience after being a diplomat for decades?
Answer: I would rather call it a pragmatic decision. In the 1980s, at the time when I was making decisions about my future, I was living in a country that was not part of the democratic world and isolated itself. Opportunities to travel abroad were very limited. As a young person, I wanted to find a job that would allow me to travel and possibly work and live abroad.
I have not regretted my decision. It has been a great experience to work and live in many countries across the world. Together with my family, we have had a chance to get to know people of different cultures and religions, and this has definitely greatly enriched our lives. Now I am already serving on the third continent, and I am again discovering something new, this time in Ghana.
Question: You are not entirely new to the happenings across the continent, what does the Ghanaian assignment mean to you?
Answer: As I have already mentioned my wife was born here in Ghana, so my posting here means much more to us. I have come to work in Ghana as a country with which my country has very good long-standing relations. In fact, our Embassy in Accra was opened very soon after Ghana’s declaration of independence, and our relations have been strong ever since then. During the first years after independence, a number of our experts, university teachers, and businessmen came here, and the father of my wife was one of them.
Many Ghanaian students came to study in my country. The former Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic have a very good name here in Ghana. Since the beginning of our cooperation, we have developed good relations and in recent years we have succeeded in further intensifying them. In my work I want to build on this and continue this excellent tradition.
Question: As the Head of Mission, what will be the direction of the mission under your leadership? Any specific areas or sectors of keen interest as part of Ghana – Czech bilateral relations?
Answer: Sub-Saharan Africa plays an increasingly important role in the foreign policy of the Czech Republic. In 2022, the Czech government approved its Strategy for Africa, which underscores the aim to increase engagement with the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa across many sectors, ranging from trade and investment to security cooperation.
Building on this strategy and also on the results of the successful visit of the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in Ghana in November last year, I would like to focus on further strengthening our cooperation in defence and security. The building of transport infrastructure will remain a very important area, and Czech companies are ready to continue to take part in modernizing the Ghanaian healthcare sector. We also see significant opportunities in water management, where our companies are offering expertise and experience from successful projects around the world.
We will continue to provide concrete assistance to Ghanaians. Key areas of our development aid include projects that help children’s education, including children with disabilities, empowerment of women and fight against deforestation in Ghana. Czech doctors will continue to provide care to Ghanaian patients, and in the framework of the long-term MEDEVAC project, they have already operated on hundreds of patients in Cape Coast and Tamale. Other projects also bring in our experience in building the capacities of civil society, with a focus on youth and the media.
And as a member country of the European Union, we are of course also taking active part in the activities of Team Europe. To sum it up, I see excellent potential for the further strengthening of relations between our countries and it is my sincere intention to manage the work of the Czech Embassy to do the utmost for the benefit of the people of both of our countries.
Question: The Ghanaian government has a bold agenda to move Ghana beyond aid, what will you say about this? There is a general drive towards commercial cooperation, are there key sectors of interest for the Czech Republic or the Czech private sector?
Answer: We are closely following the economic development of Ghana, and currently especially the steps the Ghanaian government is pursuing in order to fulfil the International Monetary Fund program’s conditions. We congratulate your government on the improvements achieved so far, but there is nevertheless still a lot of work to be done. The Czech Republic has been realizing several big projects within the area of infrastructure, healthcare and security, helping the development of the country. Unfortunately, some of them are affected by the current economic situation of Ghana.
This is also a reason why we are now focusing our activities on boosting B2B relations, mainly in the areas most demanded by the Ghanaian partners such as agriculture, healthcare, water treatment and transport infrastructure. We see big potential for impact in the B2B segment, as it enables bringing new technologies and innovations into Ghana through the private sector, allowing for the development of more sustainable commercial and business relationships between our countries.
Question: Ghana prides itself, as an agrarian, however, it is faced with several challenges ranging from productivity levels to value addition of its products, are there any key projects in the agricultural sector to help fix some of the country’s challenges?
Answer: I personally see agriculture as the crucial sector for Ghana. As everything is interconnected, once this sector will be developed, it will positively influence other branches as well. The Czech Republic wants to be your partner in these efforts. We want to help Ghanaians to be able to derive the largest profits and benefits from your own natural resources and capacities. The goal should be to supply your domestic market without relying on (re)importing foreign goods, which are paradoxically made from the original Ghanaian raw materials. We see the biggest challenges in crop processing.
The first Czech companies are already bringing their machinery and technologies for fruit processing to Ghana – mainly for the production of all types of fruit oil and processing the excess produced crops. We do not only want to sell these technologies to agribusinesses and farmers, but we also want to provide the training for them so that more young people afterwards can apply these skills on the job market.
The Czech Republic, as a globally known producer of agricultural equipment and technologies, can bring these solutions to the Ghanaian agricultural sector. Czech companies are able to provide tailor-made machines, technologies and know-how, but can also supply animal vaccines, breeding genetics (chicken and beef) and also share our experience in fishery and aquaponics.
Question: In the area of Trade and Investment, are there key initiatives or programmes geared at enhancing the trade volume between the two countries and Czech investments in Ghana?
Answer: The Czech Republic, as an European Union member state, is actively participating in all ongoing and future EU projects which are now focused on infrastructure and water treatment. Aside from these, Czech companies are now finalizing the construction and equipping of several hospitals, and the construction of several bridges around the country is almost finished. An example of a successful Czech investment is the Lemon Group company and their construction of the seaside Lemon Beach Resort in Elmina and other two restaurants in the country worth several million dollars, attracting tourists from both Ghana and abroad.
The Czech government has financed and donated the water treatment facility (value of US$50,000) to one community by the most polluted river of Birim, which should serve as a tangible example of the capacities and high quality of Czech products and technologies for the other communities. We see this donation as an investment in future cooperation. Agriculture, as already mentioned, is another significant area of our interest in working together with Ghanaian partners. As we see all these areas as crucial for the lives of Ghana’s people, we want to continue to work on them and we hope to find partners on the Ghanaian side.
Question: In recent times, the Sahel region has witnessed extremism and instability, does the Czech Republic’s foreign policy towards Africa emphasize security? Are there any collaborations to ensure peace and stability is maintained across the continent?
Answer: The Czech Republic and the European Union are closely following the security situation on the African continent. The spread of terrorism and illegal migration is a big challenge for us as well. This is why we are very concerned about the rise of instability in the Sahel region and believe that it is very important to cooperate in the area of security with Ghana and other West African countries.
The Czech Republic contributes to improve the security and defence capacities and capabilities of Ghana´s armed forces bilaterally, as well as through its status as a member state of the European Union. In August 2023, the European Union Security and Defence Initiative was established to support the West African countries of the Gulf of Guinea, namely Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo. The strategic objective of this initiative is to assist in developing the adequate capabilities within their security and defence forces to contain and respond to the pressure exercised by terrorist armed groups. With the same goal, the European Union is helping Ghana’s Armed Forces through its European Peace Facility, with a contribution of US$37 million in the last two years.
Question: Knowing the vital role the media plays in national development and enhancing our democracy, are there opportunities for collaboration for capacity media and exchanges for Ghanaian media practitioners?
Answer: I fully agree that for the development of a democratic society, the role of a free, unbiased and independent media is extremely important. At the same time, within the framework of the various forms of cooperation I mentioned, we are trying to help to share our experiences focusing mainly on the younger generation.
The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs is organizing another study trip this year called Cool Czechia. This project aims to bring a group of young future leaders, influencers and journalists from countries across the African continent to the Czech Republic. Last year there were participants also from Ghana. But we are regularly developing our programs also directly here in Ghana.
For the second year now we’re running, together with the Youth Bridge Foundation, a program to support young journalists and youth media education. Ghana is a country with a young population, and we are trying to focus our activities on it, as we believe that a focus on young people today is an important investment into Ghana’s future development, prosperity and stability.
>>>the writer is a thought leader in Marketing Communications, Stakeholder Relationship Management Professional and International Cooperation Specialist. Over the last fifteen (15) years, he has made tremendous impact within Africa’s corporate communications and creative arts sectors. He can be reached at [email protected] / +233 20 854 1480
