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President John Evans Atta has renewed his pledge to work closely with Ghana�s neighbouring countries in the supreme interest of the economic and political development of his country and the rest of the West African sub-region. He underscored the need for unity and collaboration between Ghana and its neighbours with the common purpose of improving the lives of their people. He said as countries in one geographical location, there was the need for West Africans to collaborate and strengthen the bond of friendship among the people. President Mills made the pledge when a high-powered delegation of the President of Cote d�Ivoire, Mr Allasane Ouattara, led by his Interior Minister, Mr Ahmed Bakayoko, called on him at the Castle, Osu in Accra. The delegation was in Ghana to hold discussions with President Mills on a wide range of issues, including security, integration and economic co-operation. Before the meeting retired into a closed-door session, President Mills said about four days ago he received a phone call from Mr Ouattara that he would dispatch a delegation to him to discuss how the two countries could strengthen the bond of friendship between them. President Mills, who was of the firm belief that unity was a prerequisite for development, said, �I hope the discussions will be fruitful and at the end of the day it will serve the interest of the two countries.� Mr Bakayoko, who spoke through an interpreter, said he was asked by Mr Ouattara to deliver a message based on security and other matters, saying it was a message of friendship that would be for the good of the people of the two countries. Ghana is hosting several thousand Ivorian refugees who fled the conflict in that country as well as some aides and supporters of the former Cote d�Ivoire leader, Laurent Gbagbo. A 2010 election in the world's top cocoa grower turned violent after Gbagbo refused to accept defeat under UN-certified results. Gbagbo was ousted following his capture in April 2011 after a struggle in the commercial capital Abidjan against troops backing Ouattara, with the support of French and UN forces. The conflict killed more than 3,000 people and displaced over a million. The UN and rights groups have said both sides committed atrocities. The new Ivorian government has expressed concern over the possibility that Gbagbo's supporters who fled to Ghana could use the country as a base to destabilise the administration. In October last year, President Ouattara urged Ghana to arrest and hand over Ivorians indicted for war crimes and other abuses during four months of post-election conflict in Cote d�Ivoire.