Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Yusif Sulemana, has announced positive progress towards the signing of the Ghana-United Kingdom Voluntary Partnership Agreement (GH-UK VPA) following high-level bilateral discussions held during the London Climate Action Week.

In a Facebook post published on June 24, the Deputy Minister disclosed that he met with Mary Creagh at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on the sidelines of the climate event to discuss the proposed agreement between Ghana and the United Kingdom.

According to him, the engagement was aimed at advancing efforts towards the formal signing of the treaty.

“The purpose of our engagement was to draw attention to the need to sign the Voluntary Partnership Agreement between Ghana and the UK (GH-UK VPA). This agreement, when signed, could boost forest cover preservation, responsible timber trade, and also drastically reduce the negative impacts of climate change,” Mr Sulemana stated.

He expressed optimism about the outcome of the meeting, indicating that both governments had reached a common understanding on the importance of the agreement.

“The outcome was very positive with both countries agreeing to the signing of this very important treaty,” he noted, adding that the proposed partnership would strengthen cooperation on sustainable forestry management while supporting climate action and responsible timber trade between the two countries.