Mr. Akwasi Agyeman Agyare, was born on 2nd July, 1957 in Accra, Ghana. He attended Kiev State University, Ukraine, in the then Soviet Union, from 1982 to 1987 where he obtained LLM degree in International Law and Certificate in Teaching of Russian Language. He holds a Certificate in Public Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA),

Mr. Agyare joined the Foreign Service in 1989 and has served at the Passport Office, Americas, Information, Culture and Linguistic, Africa and AU, ECTIB bureaux as well as Deputy Chief of Protocol.

He was the first to be named as the Personal Assistant to Honourable Hackman Owusu Agyemang (MP) when he was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD.

At post, he has served at the Ghana High Commission in Lagos as 1st Secretary/Head of Chancery from 1996 to 1998 and continued at the Ghana High Commission Abuja as Counsellor/Head of Chancery from 1998 to 2000 and the Ghana Mission in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo as Charge d'affaires - 2002 to 2003 from where he was cross-posted to the Ghana Mission in Copenhagen, Denmark as Minister-Counsellor/Head of Chancery from 2003 to 2006.

He has also attended a number of Diplomatic Courses both at home and abroad notably a Post Graduate Diploma in International Relations, IDIS, at the University of Nairobi, Kenya (1994 - 1995) and a Certificate Course in Diplomacy sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat at the Institute of Management and Public Administration, Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1992 as well as a Certificate in Training Session on Conflict Resolution and Peace Keeping in Africa in Cairo, Egypt, in 2001.

He has also participated in the Accra Sub-Regional Seminar "Preventing Conflict in West Africa" organized by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies in 2001.

He is happily married with three (3) lovely girls. He loves football, reading on current affairs and travelling.

The Human Resource and Administration Bureau (HRAB) is the nerve centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as it underwrites all its activities and those of the Missions abroad.
The HRAB has general responsibility for the Ministry's manpower strength, staff progression and welfare and the Director is responsible for the formulation and implementation of Personnel and Training Policies. The Staff complement comprises Foreign Service Officers and other supporting staff in the

1. Administrative (A) Branch


2. Executive (B)Branch


3. Secretarial (C) Branch, as well as


4. Translators


5. Telephonists


6. Kitchen Staff


7. Drivers


8. Cleaners, Watchmen, Messengers and Labourers.

The gender ratio of the entire staff strength is 60:38 in favour of males.
The bureau's main objective is to upgrade the Ministry's human capacity for the efficient execution and delivery of Ghana's foreign policy objectives.

The bureau's activities cover

• Recruitment


• Training
  
• Promotion
  
• Petitions
  
• Postings
  
• Requests, Retirements and Resignations
  
• Processing and vetting of all recruite staff
  
• Interdictions
  
• All areas of welfare and
  
• Matters pertaining to the 43 Missions abroad.

HRAB initiates recruitment by announcing vacancies and coordinates with the Public Service Commission (PSC), Office of the Head of the Civil Service (OHCS) and other relevant bodies in the selection process.

To ensure effective and timely delivery of the Ministry's mandate, there are training schemes, both local and foreign, to equip officers with the necessary skills and experience in the conduct of Ghana's Foreign Policy. Local training comprises on-the-job training as well as those offered by public and private institutions. Foreign training programmes are offered by friendly countries and institutions. The bureau facilitates the processing of the relevant documents to enable officers' participation.

Transfers and postings to and from Missions are carried out quadrennially to ensure the rational acquisition and distribution of skills and experience, as well as officers' overall self-development. Major reassignments of schedules are an annual affair.

Matters affecting officers' career progression are handled with dispatch by this Bureau. The Bureau recommends for consideration officers who are due for promotion and again coordinates with the PSC, OHCS and the relevant bodies for promotion interviews, after which the successful officers are promoted.

Loss of self-esteem, remuneration and low morale, following delays in promotion procedures compromise the Ministry's ability to deliver on its mandate. HRAB is, therefore, actively engaged in removing the glitches and backlogs that militate against officers' progression and welfare, in order to shore up morale and raise productivity.

With this in view HRAB has cleared all outstanding issues of promotion and has, as required by Part V Section 10.2 of Guidelines on Appointments and Promotions in the Ghana Civil Service, submitted to the Office of the Head of Civil Service a register of the progression history of officers, to facilitate the timely delivery of their promotions when they become due.

Although the Ministry's objective of attaining Ghana's Foreign Policy goals is a daunting one, the investment in a well trained and highly motivated officer corps is paying off, as evidenced by both the nation's successes on the international front and the dividends accruing therefrom to the national economy.