Ghana to share best practices with India
Ghana intends to work with India to share best practices and experiences to strengthen the capability of Ghanaians abroad to contribute to our national agenda, the Minister for Environment, Science and technology, Mr Mahama Ayariga, has said.
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He noted that the government, under the President Mahama administration, continued to engage Ghanaian in the Diaspora, as well as people of Africa descent, who were willing to contribute to national development.
Mr Ayariga, who said this when he addressed a well-attended 67th anniversary of the Republic Day of India, held at the India House in Accra, said India had advanced in its dealing with the Indian Diaspora.
He noted that Ghana had a long history of being counted as a leader, not only on the African continent but also in the entire international community.
In 1960, he said, Ghana became the first African nation to contribute troops to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force.
Indeed, Ghana, as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, had even gone as far as offering Africans in the Diaspora the ability to gain citizenship and live permanently in the country, he stated.
Tremendous dividends
The minister said there were many fine and practical examples of the tremendous dividends that Ghana had derived from India since the latter started participating in Ghana’s development by providing assistance within the spirit of South-South cooperation through the provision of lines of credit (LoCs) or grants for execution of priority projects in areas such as agro-processing, fish processing and rural electrification.
Other projects that have also received Indian support include the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the construction of the Flagstaff House.
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Within the ambit of the India Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC), he noted that Ghana had received considerable technical assistance from India through various bilateral and multilateral programmes.
India had been offering about 50 scholarships annually to the Ghana Government to enable Ghanaian students and public officials to train in various fields of study in India, he announced, and said over the years, more than 1,500 Ghanaians had benefited from this programme in India.
He extended depths of congratulations to the Indian High Commission, particularly the High Commissioner, Mr Jeeva Sagar and his staff as well as the people of India and the Indian community in Ghana, as they celebrate another year of nationhood.
Indian High Commissioner
In his address, Mr Jeeva said India was rightfully seeking to be on the UN Security Council as a permanent member.
He noted that India had become the third largest economy in the world on Purchasing Power Parity, adding that every sixth person on the globe today is an Indian.
The High Commissioner expressed his country’s happiness to be the largest contributor to the UN peace keeping forces
During their last general election, he said India witnessed about 800 million voters casting their ballot.
The anniversary reception was attended by a number of Ministers of State, including the Minister of the Interior, Mr Mark Woyongo, members of the Diplomatic Corps, academia and representatives of civil society organisations and business executives.