Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Yldiz Pollack-Beighle
By Ray Chickrie
Caribbean News Now contributor
PARAMARIBO, Suriname – The foreign minister of Suriname, Yldiz Pollack-Beighle, was in Ghana last week to open her country’s first embassy in Africa since the closure of its mission in South Africa.
The embassy was opened in Accra, Ghana, the ancestral home of many Surinamese. Citizens of all African countries can now apply for the Suriname E-Visa or E-Tourist card to enter the country.
Suriname requires a visa for citizens of all African countries and has promised that “the embassy would promote cultural exchanges and visits for tourists via e-visa and e-tourist card.”
Ethnic ties between Suriname and Ghana date back to the transatlantic slave trade era but there are little economic and cultural exchanges between these two countries. Ghanaian languages are still spoken in Suriname and Ghanaian customs and tradition outside of Ghana have survived in Suriname.
Suriname vice president, Michael Ashwin Adhin, who was also in Accra for the inaugural ceremony on Tuesday, said: “These strong bonds ensure that we are entering into a new phase of expanding political, economic as…
