President Mills hosts Crown Prince of Japan to a luncheon

Accra, March 8, GNA - The Crown Prince of Japan, Naruhito, on Monday said his visit would mark a new era of the bonds and friendship between Ghanaians and Japanese.

He commended nationals of both countries for developing strong bonds of friendship between them, especially most of the youth on exchange programmes within the last century. Crown Prince Naruhito was responding to a toast by President John Evans Atta Mills at a luncheon at the Castle, Osu in Accra. He is on a four-day official visit to Ghana, at the invitation of the Government.

Earlier in the day, Crown Prince Naruhito laid wreaths at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in memory of Ghana's first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and wife Fathia, and held talks with President Mills. The visit, his first visit to Sub-Saharan Africa, would take him to Kenya to learn more about issues that would strengthen Afro-Japan relations. Crown Prince Naruhito praised the government for supporting the Hideyo Africa Prize established some years ago to reward excellence in medical research to combat infectious diseases in Africa.

He said 1960 was the African Year during which most African countries attained independence and commended Ghana for blazing the trail on March 6, 1957.

However, Crown Prince Naruhito noted that the 50 years of independence by most African countries had not been uneventful, because most of them had been affected by poverty, infectious diseases and conflicts but the relations between Japan and African countries had greatly developed. He said Ghana and Japan were connected by strong ties, and since Japan established its embassy in Ghana in 1953, the two nations had been working to strengthen their bilateral relations.

Crown Prince Naruhito commended the quality of Ghana cocoa, and said nearly 40 per cent of the cocoa beans imported into Japan came from Ghana, in addition to about 10 per cent of the world's production of shea butter coming from Ghana, had attracted the attention of Japan in the making of soap and cream.

President Mills expressed Ghana's appreciation to the people of Japan for their development assistance to Ghana and said the relationship between the two nations was a treasure, adding "Ghana want to make sure she strengthened the relationship for mutual benefits." He called on Japan to make her expertise in environmental management, water and sanitation available to Ghana and later presented a replica of Ghana's Independence Arch to Crown Prince Naruhito. 8 March 10