Ambassador Kojo Amoo-Gottried, the President of Ghana-China Friendship Association, (GHACHIFA), has said Ghana must utilise the vast expertise and experiences of China to facilitate her socio-economic growth.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday, Ambassador Amoo-Gottfried said the rapid socio-economic progress chalked by China since1961 was a clear proof that China had great developmental know-how that was worth emulating by any nation.
“China is no doubt the biggest developing country in the world, which makes them ideal as development partners.”
The President of GHACHIFA, who is Ghana’s former Ambassador to China, said it was in this light that the Association was formed in 1979, to promote collaboration between the two countries for mutual gains, as well as the strengthening of the already existing ties of friendship.
On potential areas of collaboration, Ambassador Amoo-Godfred said, “There are a number of Chinese businesses in Ghana, for example, yet you hardly find an equal number of Ghanaian businesses in China.”
He said it was the aim of the Association, therefore, to explore such areas that were little known in Ghana and yet held great potential for collaboration.
Touching on some achievements of GHACHIFA, he said the Association had so far been able to bring in Chinese investors to Ghana.
He said it had also established a Memorandum of Understanding in the form of a sister-city programme between Accra and Fujiyama, adding that one core component of this understanding was student exchange programmes between the two cities.
He said GHACHIFA had also established a number of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centres in the Upper East and Upper West Regions, and had also opened chapters in some of the regions to promote their cause.
GHACHIFA is a friendship association and a not-for-profit organisation which aims at fostering friendship between the two countries in the areas of economic, social, political, cultural and diplomatic spheres.
Presently, the Association has a membership of more than 500 people in Ghana.
Source: GNA