Wa benefits from sister-city relations

Wa, April 24, GNA - Mr Godfrey Tangu, the acting Wa District Chief Executive for Wa, has lauded the beneficial sister-city relations between Wa and Ieper in Belgium.

He said the relationship, now in its third year, should be strengthened and sustained in the interest of north-south co-operation. Mr Tangu said this when he received some items and money from the visiting eight-member delegation from Ieper in Belgium on behalf of the Wa municipality at Wa on Saturday.

The items were twelve computers, t-shirts, books and 1,500 euros for the purchase of litterbins and for payment of airtime on the local FM stations on its sanitation education programmes.

Mr Jef Verschoore, the Deputy Mayor of Ieper and leader of the delegation, presented the gifts.

Mr Verschoore said the team, which had visited some schools and other facilities in and around Wa during its weeklong visit, had identified the problem areas of the Wa assembly for possible help. The team will also link up schools in the Wa municipality with other schools in Belgium.

During the visit, groups set up by both sides identified sanitation, registration of births and deaths and education as priority areas of co-operation.

An industrialist member of the delegation, Mr Luc Goosen, said the delegation was exploring the possibility of assisting the assembly to set up a juice processing factory next year to take advantage of the abundance of mangos in the area.

He had earlier demonstrated how to operate a simple hand-operated fruit extraction machine that the delegation presented to the assembly.