President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has tasked new president of the United Arab Emirates to continue working to develop the lot of his people.

Akufo-Addo's message to Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, posted on Twitter on May 14, 2022, also emphasized that Ghana was looking to boost relations with the gulf giant.

Mohammed bin Zayed was elected new President of the UAE following the death late last week of his brother, Khalifah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whose passing Akufo-Addo described as: "a great loss for the UAE, an indeed, for the world."

"The people and Government of Ghana and I congratulate the newly elected President of the United Arab Emirates, His Excellency Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"It is my sincere hope that the new President will continue on the path of delivering unity, security, progress and prosperity to the people of the UAE.

"It is also my overriding hope that the already strong Ghana-UAE relations will grow from strength to strength, on a shared agenda of freedom, development, progress and prosperity," the post to the new President concluded.

Death of Sheikh Khalifa

The UAE on Friday announced the death of President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan via state news agency WAM.

He was also ruler of Abu Dhabi emirate.

Vice-president and premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, acted as president until the federal council which groups the rulers of the seven emirates met and elected Mohammed Bin Zayed as substantive president over the weekend.

Khalifa, who was born in 1948, came to power in 2004 in the richest emirate Abu Dhabi and became the head of state.

Mohammed bin Zayed has been the de facto ruler of the US-allied UAE, particularly after Khalifa suffered a stroke in 2014, following which he has rarely been seen in public.