Ghana, China strengthen ties

Accra, Aug. 30, GNA - President John Agyekum on Tuesday called on Ghana and China to remove all impediments for a real consolidation and development of their bilateral relations to the mutual benefit of the two nations.

He noted that great potentials existed for the relationship of the two that must be built on.

President Kufuor was receiving Mr Li Jinzhang, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, at the Osu Castle in Accra as part of continued efforts to help to strengthen the ties.

President Kufuor said Ghana was grateful to China for cancelling debt owed her and that the two States were working together on a number of projects in the country.

He cited the telecommunications and the road sectors, specifically mentioning the Kumasi-Accra Highway and the Anyinase-Peduase Lodge dual-carriage way that are being constructed with substantial soft Chinese credit line.

Chinese consultants were also doing feasibility studies on a hydro-energy dam at Bui while the Minister of Ports, Harbour and Railways had just returned from a trip to China in connection with efforts at connecting Ghana with its northern neighbours by rail.

The railway project, he said, was important as the major investments being injected into building of the country's roads could become short-lived, if heavy trucks continued to use them.

Mr Li Jinzhang lauded President Kufuor for his personal contributions towards developing friendship between the two countries. He recalled that about 34 years ago, when the President was then a Deputy Foreign Minister, he voted at the United Nations for the restoration of China to the Security Council.

The Chinese Minister said China cherished and valued its relations with Ghana, the first nation south of the Sahara to have established ties with his country.

Earlier, Mr Giami Chin Toon, the Non-Resident High Commissioner of Singapore accredited to Ghana, also paid a courtesy call on President Kufuor.

He said he was in the country to review the relations between his country and Ghana with a view to strengthening it.