The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim, has called for stronger cooperation between Ghana and Singapore, especially in the areas of education, trade, and investment. He made the request when he received the Singapore Non-Resident Representative of Singapore to Palestine, and High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr. Hawazi Daipi, during a courtesy call at the Ministry.
Welcoming the High Commissioner, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim said Ghana values its long-standing relationship with Singapore. He recalled that Ghana and Singapore have had strong ties since the days of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. He added that Ghana continues to learn from Singapore and other countries that started their development journey around the same time.
The Minister asked the High Commissioner to consider the possibility of offering scholarships to Ghanaian students to study in Singapore. He said areas such as marketing, logistics, and port management are key for Ghana’s development, and Singapore has expertise in those fields. “If even 10 Ghanaian students are given the chance to study in these areas each year, it will go a long way to support Ghana’s development,” he said.
He also suggested that such a scholarship initiative could be done in partnership with the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs.
The Chief Director of the Ministry added that some Ghanaian government officials have already benefitted from short-term training programmes in Singapore in areas like public policy, project management, and human resource development. He called for the expansion of such support to cover young Ghanaians who want to study in areas where Singapore has strengths, especially port and harbor operations.
In response, Mr. Hawazi said Singapore has over the years trained about 750 Ghanaian civil servants through various programmes. He said Singapore would share more information about its available training programmes, and encouraged more Ghanaian officials to take part.
The Minister thanked the High Commissioner and said Ghana looks forward to closer cooperation in the years ahead.
Source: Matilda Tettey/Darling Maame Efua Cann
(Public Relations Unit MLGDRD)