Taking International negotiations seriously: Create government unit devoted to negotiations – Lawyer
“If we are going to be serious about our negotiations, then somewhere in the government system, we should have a core unit which is dedicated to negotiations.
International transactions lawyer, Tawiah Akyea has made calls for the establishment of a core government unit dedicated to international business transactions.
Speaking last Wednesday as part of a panel at a public lecture by the GIMPA Faculty of Law and the Ghana Association of Former International Civil Servants (GAFICS), on the theme 'Taking International Negotiations Seriously', Mr. Akyea noted that the establishment of a unit will enable Ghana to address future challenges in international negotiations.
“If we are going to be serious about our negotiations, then somewhere in the government system, we should have a core unit which is dedicated to negotiations.
So we must set aside a small unit, that will learn and keep the skills, and pass the skills on, so other people in the system can use the skill as and when they need it. So this unit should then begin to operate like a consultancy, where every organization which is confronted with serious negotiation, can say, come and help us,” he explained.
Mr. Tawiah Akyea also noted that it was equally important to include academia in the process of building international negotiation skills. Explaining, he noted that an academic centre should be set up to address in detail, the subject of negotiations.
"So you do research, you review information, and so on and so forth, so that between the government side (the policy side), and academia, we can begin to build the capacity that we need to face our challenges going forward.”
Nana Dr. S.K.B. Asante, who was the main speaker at the lecture emphasised how international negotiations have become essential aspects of the dynamics of international dependence.
“You can have a situation where a government has failed to respond to a particular complaint, has not appointed an arbitrator, the other side has already appointed an arbitrator. The proceedings will go ahead with or without the participation of the government and you may get an award against the government. There are so many things that go wrong. I have sat as an international arbitrator and it’s sad. There are things that could go have been done much better, especially when you see a case being lost by the government in situations where it shouldn’t have been so,” he said.
Finally, the panel of experts recommended the establishment of an “International Negotiations Centre” named after Nana Dr. S.K.B. Asante, to serve as a centre of excellence in the training of a new breed of professional Ghanaian negotiators.
