Six (6) Ghanaian officials from Ghana have visited German partner state North Rhine-Westphalia for ten working-days.
The visit which took place in September this year is the second administrative exchange programme between the Republic of Ghana and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia of Germany.
The visiting officers worked with their tandem colleagues from different ministries in Düsseldorf.
Welcoming them to the State Chancellery, Minister for International Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia, Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner, expressed the hope that the programme would help to build capacities of officers from both countries.
Mr. Holthoff Pförtner said “We hope that this exchange will enable both sides to get to know the working methods of the partner country’s administration and, above all, identify new approaches for better cooperation.
Ideally, the programme should even lead to long-term partnerships between the respective departments.
With this novel concept of direct network and knowledge transfer, we are pioneers in the whole of Germany.”
The participants exchanged ideas in areas such as vocational training, refugees and migration as well as recycling of plastic waste.
The group called on Ghanaian ambassador to Germany Mrs Gina Ama Blay before rounded up the programme.
In January 2019, government officials from North Rhine-Westphalia will be in Ghana to reciprocate the visit.
The programme is financed and carried out by the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia with the organizational support of World University Service (WUS), represented in Ghana by Mr. Saeed S. Billa.
Prime Minister Armin Laschet in February this year received Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo during his state visit to Düsseldorf.
Both leaders agreed to continue the administrative exchange programme started in 2017, to strengthen their bilateral relations.
The state government is particularly more interested in promoting economic cooperation with Ghana especially during the current dispensation.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo also advocated that Africa above all, needs more economic cooperation and not development aid.
The partnership between Ghana and North Rhine-Westphalia was established in November 2007 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by Armin Laschet in his capacity as Minister responsible for development cooperation who incidentally, became the first North Rhine-Westphalian government member to travel to Ghana in 2009. The partnership agreement was renewed in 2016.
The state government supports projects in Ghana through various funding programmes. It has also made the country a focal point of its cooperation with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).
Several cooperation between universities in North Rhine-Westphalia and Ghana in the fields of renewable energy and tropical medicine are geared towards mutual knowledge transfer.
In addition to government funded programmes, there are other collaborations between municipalities and civil society in Ghana and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Bonn and Cape Coast for isntance have a long-standing partnership. Selm supports Busunu in Northern Region in setting up facilities.
Mönchengladbach and Offinso in Ashanti, have been linked since 2004 by close cooperation between civil societies, which is supported by the city’s administration.
REL/Sualah Abdul-wahab.
