Ghana’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel A Jinapor, has underscored the importance of Ghana-South African relations and called for the urgent need for the two countries to collaborate and strengthen their bargaining position on gold pricing in order to get beneficial prices on the international market.

Mr Jinapor said: "Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire are responsible for 60%” of the world’s “cocoa output”, noting that “the two countries have worked closely to secure what we call the floor price of cocoa and, therefore, today, there is a minimum price level regardless of what happens at the international stage where cocoa cannot be sold below a certain price".

He further indicated that Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire are taking a step further and working jointly to get the international community to take out the issue of premiums.

The minister stated this when a high-level delegation from South Africa called on him to, among other things, exchange ideas and best practices on the mining sector, particularly small-scale mining operations.

Mr Jinapor was of the view that the move by Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire in the cocoa industry could be replicated by Ghana and South Africa in the gold sector.

The Ghanaian government, the minister said, is doing all it can to come to grips with illegal mining activities known in Ghana as galamsey, in Australia as Prospecting and in South Africa as Zama Zama; and charged his technical team to learn from the governance structure of the South African delegation led by Major General.

For her part, Major General Zulu applauded Ghana for allowing her country's top principals to engage them while on their knowledge-sharing tour, adding that the President of the Republic of South Africa tasked them to use Ghana as a benchmark to yield broader results.

She further stressed that Ghana's small-scale mining sector is focused on improving the lives of the community, as well as the economic sector.

Ghana and South Africa are leading producers of gold in Africa and relations between the two countries date back to pre-colonial times, as both are members of the African Union and the Commonwealth of Nations.