Accra, July 8, GNA - Mr Haruna Idrissu, Minister of Communications a nd Mr Yu Wenzhe, Chinese Ambassador on Thursday jointly launched commemorati ve stamps to mark 50 years of bilateral relations.

The stamps, in three denominations of GH¢1.00, GH¢1.30 and GH¢ 1.40, have features depicting the close collaboration between the two countries .. These include "Nkonsonkonson" symbol, the Ghana National Theatre building and the Great Wall of China with an inscription of Ghana's symbo l of unity. The celebration is on the theme:" Partnership, Co-operation and Development-Experiencing 50 Years of Relations between Ghana and China."

Mr Idrissu thanked the Chinese Government for donating 100,000 piece s of the commemorative stamps to Ghana and indicated that they would not on ly serve as important symbols of the excellent bilateral relations, but also

help popularise the existing warm diplomatic links. He said China for the past five decades featured visibly in various sectors of the Ghanaian economy and contributed to the development of infrastructure including roads. Mr Idrissu gave the assurance that Government and people of Ghana wo uld remain committed towards a further strengthening of the bilateral relatio ns with China, to ensure that both countries derived maximum socio-economic and cultural benefits from each other. He related the existing excellent relations between the two continue s to the fact that both countries shared many common perspectives, values a nd goals as well as have a historical heritage of cooperation in internation al fora. Mr Idrissu appealed to the China to extend support to Ghana Post to enable it pursue its modernisation plans.

Mr Yu said China would remain committed to further strengthen the lasting bond of bilateral relations over the past five decades. Mr Nicholas Dery, Acting Managing Director, Ghana Post, said the the me for the celebration is relevant as Ghana and China had continuously strengthened their relations through economic, social and political co-operation.

He noted that with the changing global trend of the postal industry as far as Information, Communication and Technology is concerned, it is important that Ghana Post modernises its mode of operations to compete favourably with others globally and also meet customer requirements. "We in Ghana are in the process of transforming and modernising our operations. Even though the process has been relatively slow due to liquidity problems, we are hopeful that with the support of our sector Ministry, we would be able to introduce quality technological transformat ion in our postal industry," he added. 8 July 10