The Ivorian President, His Excellency Laurent Gbagbo, has sent a high-powered delegation led by the Ivorian Minister for Mines and Energy, Mr. Kouadio Komo� Augustine, to deliver a special message to the President of Ghana, His Excellency President J.E.A Mills.
Mr. Komoe Kuadio, handed the Ghana president a message that was not made public.
The envoy, Ivory Coast Mines Minister, later told newsmen that the message had to do with the discovery of oil in Ghana and the recent offshore boundary issue between the two countries, and other equally pressing matters.
There have been widespread speculations that Ghana�s Western neighbor Ivory Coast is reportedly laying claims to portions of the huge oil wealth in the deep waters of the Western Region.
The news of Ivory Coast�s claim to parts of Ghana�s oil fields comes just days after United States operator Vanco struck oil in the deep-water Dzata-1 well, off Ghana�s Cape Three Points near Ivory Coast, further boosting the oil wealth in Ghana�s booming offshore Tano basin.
The Dzata 1 find by Russia�s oil giant Lukoil and its partner Houston-based Vanco Energy is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) away from the Jubilee oilfields, where significant hydrocarbons have also been found.
The Jubilee field is one of the largest oil finds in West Africa in the past decade. The first barrels of crude from the field are expected to come on stream in the last quarter of the year.
But Mr. Komoe Kuadio pointed out that the row must not harm ties between the two West African neighbours.
The Ivorian Minister also said Mr. Gbagbo wants President Mills to do everything humanly possible to help Ivory Coast out of its current Electric Power outages.
President J.E.A Mills on his part, re-echoed the cordial diplomatic relations between Ghana and Cote d�Ivoire and said, �there are many things we have in common that can be used to enhance our relations.�
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