Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi, July 21, GNA – Mr Manish Gupta, the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana says
India has signed an agreement to collaborate in herbal medicines production with Ghana.
Already, the University of Health and Allied Sciences in the Volta Region and India’s premier Institute, the Ayush, were working towards that goal, he said.
Mr Gupta stated that efforts were also underway to help Ghana process tomatoes into pastes to reduce the import bill, while vital spices identified in the Volta Region were potential focus for investment drive.
Mr Gupta said India’s relationship with Ghana dated way back before its independence and described some Indian nationals as more Ghanaian – Indians, than Indian- Ghanaians, “because they have been here for four to five generations.”
He spoke about the operation of standards between the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Ghana Standards Authority, with the purpose to harmonies collaboration closely linked to the quest for the African Continental Free Trade Areas.
The India Commissioner alluded to the recent visit by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, saying it had strengthened and deepened Ghana – India relations and cooperation, cutting across political, diplomatic, economic, commercial, agriculture, agro-processing, defense and security as well as cultural fields.
He was happy that, despite the geographic gap, Ghana -India relationship kept soaring with linkages and bonds which were quite extraordinary, substantive and comprehensive, and marked a blueprint for further diversifying the engagement into various sectors.
Touching on agriculture, Mr Gupta noted how good discussions were ongoing for Indian investments in the sector, to propel more collaboration in research and capacity building.
He recognised Ghana’s move to become the regional base for vaccines and health, saying that substantive discussions were ongoing for capacity building and research.
“We have also discussed some cooperation in the sectors of defense and security because we realised challenges coming from the northern territories; the Sahelian and borders with degrees of security vulnerabilities. So, there are more cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism, cybersecurity and border surveillance,” he said.
The Indian High Commissioner announced a Memorandum of Understandings on cultural exchange programmes, to boost culture, tourism and a future hope of a permanent joint commission.
He acknowledged India as key player in Ghana’s Gold trade, revealing that it wanted to double it in the next five years, and was confident that this would soon happen.
GNA
Edited Justina Paaga/ Christabel Addo