The German government on Saturday marked 60 years of its relations with the West African nation Ghana as both countries aspire to improve the already existing strong ties between them.
In terms of trade, Ghana is positioned behind Nigeria and South Africa as the third largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2015, bilateral trade between the two countries grew to 536 million euros ($633 million), up from 470 million euros in 2014. That’s according to Germany’s Federal Foreign Office.
Germany exported goods to Ghana worth 266 million euros and its imports from Ghana were worth 270 million euros. Renewable energy, recycling, waste management and sustainable development form the backbone of economic relations. Germany has played a leading role in assisting Ghana deal with garbage processing, particularly dealing with e-waste.
The German Ambassador to Ghana, Christoph Retzlaff told DW in Accra that the plan of his country is to prolong the 60 year old relations between Ghana and Germany due to its significance.
“Ghana for us is one of our key partners, Ghana has great democratic credentials, Ghana is stable, a stabilizing factor for the whole region of West Africa and Ghana has a lot of economic potentials. You have a lot of young creative people so there is lot of potential in this country and what we want to achieve together with Ghana in our cooperation is that Ghana will be able to live up to its potential,” the ambassador said
There appears to be a huge interest in the culture and language of Germany with scores of Ghanaian youth trooping to the Goethe Institute in Accra’s cantonment residential area. The center is home to German culture and language in Ghana.
At the center, young Ghanaians fascinated about the German culture come to inquire about learning the German language with a hope that language skills will help them once they travel to Germany for further studies.
One of those here to learn the language, Vincent Darkey said “I want to be able to speak another language, if you understand somebody’s language its easy for you to understand them, so I just want to be able to know how they reason.
Another young person who is aspiring to further his studies in Germany, Lloyd Nketia told DW “I want to latest by next year go to Germany and continue my education there, bachelor’s degree and Masters.”
Germany already has a compact with African countries as chair of the G-20 and Ghana is a part of it. Ambassador Retzlaf said it is important for the youth to take a leading role in Ghana’s economic growth.
“We are of course of the opinion that it will be the young generation who will be shaping the future of Ghana in the next 20-30 years. That is why we have started for the first time for instance a program to support Ghanaian startups. We are also expanding our program in vocational training here, we are already doing a lot, but we want to do more,” Ambassador Retzlaf said.
The Germans and Ghanaians are hoping to ensure that the existing relations between them gets better with the growing presence of German businesses and institutions in Ghana.
Source: Africafeeds.com
