Sister-City programmes should be purposeful - Ambassador Horace Ankrah

Ghana's Deputy Head of Mission to China, Horace Nii Ayi Ankrah, has charged both Chinese and Ghanaian city authorities engaged in sister-city programmes to take such collaborations seriously to the benefit of the two peoples because such collaborations offer "development and growth".

"City governments should take such programmes with the seriousness they deserve but not to see them as accolades and opportunities to do otherwise"

"These programmes offer scientific, economic, recreational, educational and cultural opportunities with a single purpose of enhancing and changing lives" Mr. Ankrah told GhanaPoliticsOnline.Com.

Mr. Ankrah was speaking during his 3 day working visit to Xuzhou, in the Jiangsu Province, where he finalized the preliminary stages of the sister city collaboration between the city of Xuzhou and the city of Kumasi, and the sister university programme between Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT).

Professor Guoqing Zhou, Vice President of CUMT agreed to offer KNUST 6 Post Graduate scholarships annually at the request of the Deputy Head of Mission.

Mr. Zhou Tiegen, Mayor of Xuzhou, also assured Mr. Ankrah of Xuzhou city's commitment to this partnership, which will work towards "human development."