The Chief Executive (CE) of Forestry Commission (FC), Mr. John Allotey and Mrs. Joyce Ofori Kwafo, Manager of Corporate Affairs and Media Relations Unit received a team from Tullow Ghana Limited, made up of Mr. Wissam Al-Monthiry, Managing Director , and Mr. Patrick Ampong, Senior Advisor External Affairs of Tullow Ghana Limited.
Mr. Al -Monthiry explained that, the visit is to follow up on negotiations with the Commission on how best Tullow can achieve its net zero emissions target. He added that, since assuming his role as Managing Director at Tullow, they have decarbonized lots of their projects through nature based solutions. He believes offsetting carbon should be done at home . To him , home is where Tullow operates and he will ensure a net zero emission possibility a reality in their country of operations, which is Ghana.
Mr. Allotey thanked Tullow Ghana for the visit and said that, FC has started emissions reductions through the REDD+ Project.
He added that, Tullow is coming in at a time when capacity has been built and REDD+ has been successful and highlighted some successes chalked by REDD+.
Mr. Allotey explained that all hurdles have been cleared and both parties are eager to see the project started.
He assured that, everything is set for the project to kickstart hopefully in 2023.
The Chief Executive mentioned that he will get approval from FC Board of Commissioners, brief the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and Ministry of Finance. Afterwards, the Letter of Intent will be signed by FC and Tullow Ghana, followed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will pave the way for the project to commence.
Mr. Wissan Al-Monthiry stated that, he is prepared to partner FC on this journey in the years to come and very eager to see the project happening in Ghana. He assured that, he is available for any further discussions to speed up the process. He then presented the CE of FC with a Ghana Black Stars branded T-shirt.
The Chief Executive thanked the Tullow team for the visit.