Lord Mayor of London City visits Accra

Accra, Jan. 16, GNA - The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Mr John Stuttard would visit Accra from January 20 to January 24 2007; the British High Commission announced on Tuesday.

A statement issued in Accra said, the visit was the Lord Mayor's first visit to Ghana and he would be accompanied by The Chief Commoner, Mr Gerald Pulman; Mr Charles Sinclair, Chartered Accountant and City Figure, who has been Group Chief Executive of the Daily Mail and General Trust since 1988, and Ms Ann Grant, Vice Chairman of Standard Chartered Capital.

It said the annually elected Lord Mayor is the Ambassador for the UK-based Financial Services Industry. He promotes the trillion-dollar financial services industry, whose core is the City of London "Square Mile" business district where it employs more than 320,000 people, with more than a million financial and business services workers across wider London. London is the world's leading international centre for financial and business services.

During his five-day visit to Ghana, the Lord Mayor would lead events on the "City of London - City of Learning" initiative1. He would learn about the financial services sector in Ghana and promote the importance of training and skills required within that sector at the postgraduate level.

He would attend the launch of the British Council's Management Express Development Programme in Accra and chair roundtables with key players in the financial services and education sectors. He would launch his Education, Training and Qualifications initiative in Ghana and the England-Africa Partnership Project between the University of Ghana and the University of East London at a press conference.

Lord Mayor Stuttard commented: "We will meet with key leaders of the financial services sector in Ghana whose Government is acutely aware that a strong banking and capital sector is a powerful lever for growth and reform in the wider economy.

" Skills are missing in some key sectors (world-wide) such as banking so we hope to build links with UK based institutions that are in a strong position to help", said Lord Mayor Stuttard.

John Stuttard is the first Lord Mayor to have served as a Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) worker and as an integral part of this visit he would take the opportunity to see how VSO's work has changed in the 40 years since he began supporting the life transforming charity. "My work for VSO in Asia as a graduate in 1966-67 transformed my own life and outlook - so I am really looking forward to getting close up to some VSOs.

"Globalisation has brought great benefits for the financial services industry, which hundreds of thousands in the UK work for - but that same globalisation also brings us responsibilities as global citizens.

"I can think of no better way of directly working as a global citizen than supporting VSO", said Lord Mayor Stuttard. Lord Mayor Stuttard, whose official charity appeal focuses on VSO, has served as an adviser for the charity since 2000. During this visit, he would be closely briefed on the practical and concrete programmes VSO is delivering across Ghana.