Akwamu (E/R), Nov 30, - The Queen
of Denmark, Margarethe II, after her three-day State Visit, said her experience
of Ghana was very wonderful and would be a lasting memory.
She stated at a media conference:
“I will like to tell everybody that my three days in Ghana has been really
wonderful. I have been so kindly been received by, first all, the President,
and also by everybody else, that I have come into contact with.
“Really it was a wonderful
experience and these days will be something I will always remember. “It’s been
three wonderful days. I have enjoyed every moment and I am very pleased to have
been able to see for myself what Ghana is like; and I’m most impressed.”
She was addressing the media at
Senchi, in the Eastern Region, on her experience, before she departed to
Denmark.
Queen Margarethe described Ghana
as “a wonderful country with so many opportunities”.
She said the relationship between
Ghana and Denmark had always been a good one and expressed the belief that her
visit would even better help to deepen the ties.
She said the 39 representatives
from 39 Danish firms that she travelled with; who participated in various
discussions, all expressed the interest to explore the investment opportunities
in Ghana, with some already having invested in the country.
Sharing her reflections on the
shared past between Ghana and Denmark after her visit to the Osu Castle,
formerly known as the Christiansborg Castle, the Queen said the Castle
represented a remote history in many ways and it was an important story, which
seemed unbelievable in this modern days.
“But it is very important not to
judge the past by our present standards,” the Queen admonished.
The Danish Foreign Affairs
Minister, Mr Anders Samuelsson, who addressed the media together with the
Queen, said: “We feel very optimistic leaving Ghana now because we have made
some good talks and very constructive talks as well”.
He said the Danish business team
had good talks with Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of
Trade and also had some good business meetings.
“Going from aid to trade is
really the right thing to do now and I do agree with the President of Ghana
that this is the way forward, and think it’s going to be good and deepened
cooperation,” he noted.
He said President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo Addo’s focus of making the business environment secure,
progressive and attractive to investors all around the world was a good focus
just as the resolve of educating the next generation.
“These two things combined will
certainly make it very attractive to do business in Ghana,” he stated.
As part of the Queen’s itinerary,
she paid a courtesy call on the chiefs and people of Akwamu in the Eastern
Region.
The visit to the Akwamufie was
the climax of the Queen’s visit of various cultural and historic sites that
formed the itinerary of her first time visitation to Ghana, as a West African
nation.
Prior to the visit to the Akwamu
Palace, Queen Margarethe earlier in the day visited the Odumase/Agomanya
Market, which is well known as a popular beads market, to interact with the
dealers of the beads and also have a feel of a true Ghanaian marketplace.
The Queen also visited the Cedi
Bead Factory, a popular bead manufacturing centre at Agomanya, where Mr Nomoda
Ebenezer Djaba, the Chief Executive Officer of the Factory, briefed the Queen
on the process of professional bead making.
At the Akwamu Palace, Odeneho
Kwafo Akoto III, the Paramount Chief of Akwamu, on behalf of the people of
Akwamu State, received Queen Margarethe and her entourage at the palace amidst
drumming and singing of traditional music to welcome the Queen.
An elder at the Palace recounted
the history of the Danes, who shared a history of the dark story of slave
trade, and the interesting story related to shifting alliances and conflicts
between the Danes and the Akwamu people.
The Christiansborg Castle,
originally built by the Danes in the17th Century, has changed ownership several
times.
History has it that in the 1693,
the Akwamu people, disguised as tradesmen, took over the Castle.
Conflicting reports say the Danes
had either drunk too much schnapps, or were weakened by sickness.
The Elder at the Palace, however,
said, a Prince of Akwamu, by name Asameni, who went to the Castle to study the
Dutch Language, in 1693, later hatched a plan to overtake the Danes and later
took the keys to the Castle to the Akwamu Palace.
Later, when the then Akwamu King,
Asameni, sold the Castle back to the Danes for 12 kilograms of gold, but he
kept the keys in his possession.
Since then, the Akwamu people
have kept the keys safe as a trophy and a proud symbol of the resistance of the
Akwamus against the Danes.
Queen Margarethe on her part,
said she was happy to be there to hear: “Some of your fascinating stories about
the connection between Denmark and this part of Ghana in a long time ago.
“But I’m touched to know that you
still cherish the memory of those times and that you keep up the story. And
that is something I should take back with me to Denmark, in particular, the
memory of this part of Ghana.
The Queen was later taken to a
room where the keys were being kept to have a look at them.
At the Chief’s Palace were Ms
Catherine Afeku, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Mr Eric Kwakye
Darfour, Eastern Regional Minister, and Mr Thomas Ampem Nyarko, MP for
Asuagyaman Constituency.
GNA
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