On the occasion of the visit of Minister of Agriculture Marian Jurečka together with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Martin Tlapa and the Director of the Department of Industrial Co-operation of the Ministry of Defense Tomáš Kopečný from 20-23. July 2017 in Ghana, the first agricultural conference was held in Accra at the Kempinski Hotel to support the efforts of Czech exporters to work with this West African country.

On the eve of the conference, a formal reception was held at the same hotel, attended by over 150 representatives of many ministries, the State Minister for Agriculture, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, leading companies of Ghanaian Industry and Commerce, Wholesalers and Planters, representatives of Ghana Army, Ghana Air Force.

The exact outline of President's vision, such as the mechanization of the Ghanaian agricultural sector, the self-sufficiency in the production of certain foods, the need for drying, storing and processing agricultural products, together with the government's aim "one district, one plant " presented Minister of Agriculture Hon. Owusu Afriyie Akoto during the opening speech of opening an agricultural conference.

Ideas of Ghanaian Minister of Agriculture regarding cooperation met in their presentations Sukov Company Ltd., and Agados Zetor Tractors for agriculture mechanization area, as well as company Pawlica Ltd., JK Machinery, B.G.M. exports and Euro Bagging for the area of storage and processing of agricultural products and the area of self-sufficiency in food production covered Bauer Technics and Dominant CZ. Due to the lack of Ghanaian finance for investment in agriculture, the presentation of representatives of Czech Export Bank and EGAP was very important. An interesting feature was the presentation of Big Terra Alpha with the latest advances in the management of African agriculture through satellite data, weather stations and digital weather models. The whole first part of the presentation concluded the presentation by a representative of Ghana-Czech Chamber of Commerce.

Thus continuing cooperation can be initiated by approaching Ghanaian trade mission from 25 - 27 September 2017 in Prague, which was attended by the representatives of Ghana's food and agricultural sector.

The presentation of representative of Mendel University in Brno pointed to support of Czech Republic in providing education to students of Ghana, which is currently studying in the Czech Republic on agricultural faculties more than 200. With performances representative of the Ministry of Agriculture of Ghana again Czech company learned about the current state of Ghana's agriculture, its agriculture problems, needs and opportunities, as already mentioned in Minister Akoto's speech.

After the seminar, two hours of B2B talks followed between Czech subjects and existing or potential Ghana partners. The implementation of some important agricultural projects, such as the construction of the poultry farms complex and the processing plant, was subsequently mentioned in the negotiations with the Ghanaian Minister of Agriculture, which highly appreciated the aid offered in this way both for the production of own poultry meat and for increasing the employment of the local population.

In the afternoon, the Director of the Department of Industrial Co-operation of the Ministry of Defense Tomáš Kopečný, accompanied by several companies of the Czech arms industry, visited the General Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces. The visit, attended by Chief of Staff Major General Obed Akwa, Chief of Navy vice admiral M. Beick-Baffour, and Director of peace-keeping forces of Ghana the Brigadier General CKAA Awity, was accompanied by a presentation by LOM Prague, Excalibur International, Omnipol and Defcon, which offered a cooperation in the field of supply of new goods, maintenance and modernization of existing military equipment, training of personnel and ground service.

The Chief of Staff has shown interest especially in the overhaul of helicopters and small passive radars for the Navy. During the subsequent discussion, the need to implement the already signed contract for gun delivery from the production of the Česká Zbrojovka Uherský Brod for the armed forces of the Ghanaian Army was reminded.

During his afternoon program, Deputy Minister Tlapa discussed in detail the involvement of Czech companies in the development of the Ghanaian processing industry with the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Robert Ahomko-Lindsay, and agreed on the need to sign the much needed agreement on investment promotion and protection as soon as possible.

On Saturday, an agricultural delegation visited a pineapple farm in Nsawam near Accra and went through a tour of the Blue Skies tropical fruit plant. During the company presentation the possibility of importing products of this company to the Czech Republic was discussed.

Tomáš Zázvorka, Commercial Counselor, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Accra