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The Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, Mr Domingos Simoes Pereira, has lauded Ghana�s lead role in ECOWAS, particularly in efforts towards the reconstruction of his war-ravaged country. He said but for the financial assistance Guinea-Bissau received from ECOWAS member states as a result of Ghana�s efforts, it would have been impossible for the country to pay salaries of employees in the public service. Mr Pereira, who was speaking journalists after a closed-door meeting with the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, at Akosombo yesterday, thanked the rest of the ECOWAS member states for their continued support for his country. The newly elected Prime Minister arrived in Accra last Saturday for a three-day official visit to Ghana to thank President John Dramani Mahama for Ghana�s role in helping to set Guinea Bissau on a peaceful path to democratic governance. He recalled that at the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh lobbied an international group to pay attention to the situation in Guinea-Bissau and that paid off. Peace and stability Mr Pereira said Guinea-Bissau was currently enjoying peace and stability, adding that the government would continue to co-operate with Ghana and the other ECOWAS members. As part of the process to build bridges and heal wounds following the instability, he said, the Guinea-Bissau Government was in the process of holding a roundtable meeting in Ghana early next year to build consensus on the way forward for the development. He appealed to the government of Ghana to lend its support to the process. Vice-President Mr Amissah-Arthur for his part commended the government of Guinea-Bissau and its people for choosing a democratic path to resolve their conflict and underscored the need for the move to be sustained. He said Ghana would continue to play its role as the chair of ECOWAS to ensure that peace would prevail in the sub-region. Among the government officials who accompanied the Vice-President were the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere; the Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang; a Minister of State at the Presidency, Mrr Rashid Pelpuo; a Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs Helen Mona Quartey; the Minister of Tourism and Creative Arts, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, and a Senior Advisor to the President, Alhaji Baba Kamara. Earlier, the Prime Minister was conducted round facilities of the Akosombo Dam where he commended Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana�s first president, for his vision in building the dam, which he said had become a model for power generation in the world.