Sudan Ambassador commends Graphic
The Sudanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Babikir Elsiddig Mohamed Elamin, has lauded the Graphic Communication Group Limited (GCGL) for adhering strictly to professional standards.
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He said he admired in particular, the way its flagship newspaper, the Daily Graphic, balanced national interest stories with all other kinds of interests in the newspaper.
The Daily Graphic, he said, was therefore, playing a deserving role in nation building by reflecting societal issues as well as enriching political discourse in the country.
The ambassador, who paid a courtesy call on the Editor of the Daily Graphic last Tuesday, generally said the media landscape in the country was vibrant, powerful and dynamic.
He said most people, including himself, learnt a lot about the country from the Daily Graphic that one could not get from books.
Sunday newspapers
Mr Elamin, who also had a stint with the media, however, expressed surprise that most newspapers in the country did not hit the news-stand on Sundays.
He said more people would have preferred to relax on Sundays reading newspapers as pertained in other parts of the world.
The Ambassador explained that on Sundays, the newspaper could come with investigative stories dealing with big issues to attract more readership.
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Ghana, Sudan bilateral relations
Mr Elamin added that Ghana and Sudan had a lot to learn from each other in their bilateral relationship.
He said his priority areas included trade, education and culture since Ghana and his country had cultural similarities, especially the people of Ashanti and the Nubi people of South/West Sudan, which ought to be explored.
The Ambassador said researchers and scientists had realised that the Sudan civilisation was a unique African Kush civilisation and not an extension of the Egyptian civilisation.
He said the government of Sudan was bent on modernising the iron ore mines and bring them back to production to diversify its economy of oil and gold production.
According to Mr Elamin, Sudan was the third largest producer of gold after South Africa and Ghana on the African continent, and that was why the potential was huge for real bilateral ties with Ghana.
He said the Joint Permanent Commission between Sudan and Ghana recently met in Khartoum and adopted seven broad co-operation agreements which included trade, business, tourism, culture and sports.
The Ambassador said six Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) were signed on higher education, mining, oil ,gas and agriculture as well as customs duties.
The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, said most Sunday newspapers in the country had folded up because of the lack of reading culture in the country,adding that people did not buy newspapers on Sundays.
He, however, said that the management had decided to increase the pages of the Saturday issue of the Daily Graphic to cater for the needs of readers at weekends.
On bilateral trade, Mr Tetteh called on Ghana and Sudan to explore more ways of deepening the bilateral relationship for the two countries to increase trade and businesses among their citizens.
Potential of business diplomacy
He said the big conglomerates started as small scale businesses or family ventures, and Africans ought to start from somewhere. He urged ambassadors of developing countries to explore the potential of business diplomacy.