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Five envoys accredited to Ghana yesterday presented their letters of credence to President John Dramani Mahama with a commitment to deepen trade, political and cultural relations between their respective countries and Ghana. They again pledged to impress on their various governments to increase technical and financial assistance to Ghana. The envoys were Mrs Nezha Alaoui M'hammdi, Ambassador of Morocco; Ms Hege Hertzberg, Ambassador of Norway; Mr Simeao Archer Pinto, Ambassador of Portugal; Mr Marco Antonio Gracia Blanco, Ambassador of Mexico, and Mr Vyacheslav V. Beskosty, Ambassador of Belarus. Moroccan Ambassador Receiving the Moroccan Ambassador, Mrs M'hammdi at the Flagstaff House in Accra, President Mahama recalled the historic relations between Ghana and Morocco which dated back to when the Moroccan caravan had its first stop in Ghana, long before the country�s independence in 1957. He said the relations were deepened during the days of Ghana's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, and the late King Mohamed V of Morocco. President Mahama was hopeful that Mrs M'hammdi would strengthen the ties between the two countries during her duty tour of the country. He assured her of the government's cooperation at all times towards strengthening the relations between Ghana and Morocco. Responding, Mrs M'hammdi said the Moroccan government was committed to strengthening ties with Ghana through pragmatic actions of co-operation in the areas of water management, housing, energy, telecommunication, transportation, fisheries and tourism. She said in the last decade, the volume of trade between Morocco and West Africa had increased. The Moroccan ambassador said many Moroccan small and medium enterprises were looking forward to investing in Ghana and establish sustainable trade between the two nations. Ambassador of Norway Welcoming the Ambassador of Norway, Ms Hege Hertzberg, President Mahama lauded Norway for its social democratic practice which dwelled on the welfare of citizens, and indicated that Ghana was taking a cue from that. He said Ghana had benefited a lot from the experience of Norway in oil and gas exploration as Ghana's legislations and structures on oil and gas were modelled on the experience of Norway. In addition, the President said Ghanaian engineers and students had had the opportunity to study oil and gas in Norway. He commended Norway for transforming its Ghanaian consulate into a full embassy, and expressed the hope that the move would deepen co-operation between the two countries. In her response, Ms Hertzberg said Norway strongly believed that the natural resources of a country belonged its the people. Therefore, she said, Norway's interest was to expand co-operation with Ghana in many areas, especially in the oil and gas sector. Ambassador of Portugal Receiving the Ambassador of Portugal, Mr Simeao Archer Pinto, the President said Ghana and Portugal maintained stronger diplomatic relations, but stated that the volume of trade between the two countries was rather low. He said Portugal's foreign direct investment to Ghana, which amounted to $22 million, was encouraging and urged Portugal to increase the investment. President Mahama said there was the need for Portugal to increase its investment in the areas of manufacturing and services. Responding, Mr Pinto said Portugal had taken special interest in Ghana's democratic credentials and economic growth. Therefore, he said the government of Portugal was more than ready to increase investment in Ghana and further consolidate the co-operation between the two nations. Mexican Ambassador Welcoming the Mexican Ambassador, Mr Marco Antonio Gracia Blanco, President Mahama asked Mexico to expand co-operation with Ghana in terms of sharing experience in oil and gas exploration with Ghana. He again asked Mexico to consider investing in Ghana's agricultural sector since the country had comparative advantage in that regard. For his part, Mr Blanco commended Ghana for its political stability and efforts towards growing the economy. He assured Ghana of his readiness to promote trade and partnership between the two countries. Ambassador of Belarus Receiving the Ambassador of Belarus, Mr Beskosty, President Mahama said Ghanaian farmers had benefited significantly from the efficiency of tractors manufactured in Belarus. He asked the government of Belarus to consider setting up an assembling plant for tractors in Ghana. In his response, Mr Beskosty, who is the first Ambassador of Belarus to be accredited to Ghana, said Belarus was committed to collaborating with Ghana to make tractors more available to farmers. Besides, he said Belarus was keen on sharing technical expertise with Ghana.