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The 2012 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday interacted with Ambassador Johnnie Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in his office at the State Department, at 4pm. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Carson said he was pleased to meet Nana Akufo-Addo again. He recalled Nana Akufo-Addo�s time as Foreign Affairs Minister and paid tribute to him for the important role he played in the first compact of the Millennium Challenge Account. Ambassador Carson said Ghana remained a beacon in Africa for the peaceful transfer of power from one government to another. Nana Akufo-Addo, in his remarks, thanked the US government for helping to consolidate democracy in Ghana and Africa. He said he was in the US to meet potential investors and was pleased with the response so far. Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated that there was a firm consensus among Ghanaians on multi-party democracy as their form of government. He expressed concern however about people being intimidated and the tension being generated around the on-going biometric registration exercise. Nana Akufo-Addo also spoke about his ideas on how Ghana should use her oil resources to structurally transform the Ghanaian economy, using the Norwegian model as a guide. The two men also discussed the forthcoming general elections. Ambassador Johnnie Carson said that Ghana had an opportunity to reaffirm her leadership position in Africa by conducting a free, fair and transparent electoral process, which the US was committed to support. He urged the building of institutions and not people to strengthen democracy in Ghana. He thanked Nana Akufo-Addo for his message which he said resonated in the US and wished him well in the elections. Nana Akufo-Addo concluded by saying that he expected a decent campaign and as long as the process was fair, whoever won the elections would have the support of all Ghanaians. Nana Akufo-Addo�s delegation to the meeting included Yaw Osafo Maafo, Charles Owiredu and Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, NPP USA Chairman.