News:
June 16, 2017
Member of Parliament for Tamale South Haruna Iddrisu is calling for trade relations between Germany and Ghana to yield one billion Euros trade mark.
Mr. Iddrisu made the call when a five member Parliamentary delegation from Germany called on the Speaker of Parliament and visited the Ghanaian chamber Tuesday morning.
He noted that the current trade relations between both countries stand at 3% and called for improvement in the bilateral and trade relations, adding that President Nana Akufo-Addo recently visited Germanydue to the good relations between the two countries.
The Minority leader called on the German delegation to consider supporting Ghana to help the President fulfil his promise of one district one factory, based on the advance industrialization Germany has achieved. “We acknowledge the contribution of GTZ a German organization their contribution towards, Ghana’s decentralization programme”.
The former Trade and industry Minister noted that, with United Kingdom leaving the European Union, there is the need to take a second look at the Economic Partnership Agreement, which will be the redefinition of the relationship of Germany and the rest of Europe, and this should be looked at in the contest of improved trade.
The Speaker, Rt. Honorable Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye on his part bemoaned the past history of Ghana stating that anytime there was a military takeover Parliament suffered. And call for more relationsbetween the Parliament of both countries and not leaving everything only at the governmental level.
The Speaker called for reintroduction of the relation that allowed Ghanaians to be in Germany without visa for six month, saying it was after the sixth month that visa acquisition was needed. He further pushed for the introduction of German language in Ghana to help strengthen the relationships.
He proposed exchange visits by Members of Parliament from both countries to boost the relations as Ghana stands to learn a lot from the experiences of Germany.
Majority leader OseiKyei Mensah-Bonsu on his part noted that in the early 1970’s there were attempts to introduce German, language in the Ghanaian education system, he does not know how that fizzled out, and called for re-introduction of the German language to strengthen the relationship between the two Countries.
He noted that German industries are cherish and recounted how German automobile vehicles help the Ghanaian mass transport process; but the situation became deplorable when it was changed.
“As at the time that we have started looking at getting a new chamber for Ghana, a lot of architecture drawings which has resemblance of the German Parliament, has started coming to my attention”, he noted.
By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com