Bolgatanga, Aug 17, GNA - The Upper East Region of Ghana and the Central East Province of neighbouring Burkina Faso have agreed to form collaborative committees on Rural Development, Health, Security, Commerce and Trade, and Environmental Protection for their mutual development.

The agreement was reached at a meeting in Bolgatanga on Monday, between a 15-member visiting Burkinabe delegation led by the Central East Regional Governor of Burkina Faso, Mr Ouedraogo Jacob, and the Upper East Regional Co-ordinating Council.

The purpose of the visit was to enhance effective collaboration between the two regions.

In the course of the meeting, the two sides expressed concern about a number of issues including cattle rustling and rape being perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen along the boarders, which were hampering development. The Ghanaian team led by the Regional Minister, Mr Boniface Gambila, also expressed dismay about the recklessness of articulator drivers from Burkina Faso, when they entered the Ghanaian territory, saying, a lot of Ghanaians had been killed by Burkina Faso vehicles over the last few years.

The Burkinabe Governor and his delegation said that they would fashion out strategies to curb such acts.

Mr Gambila, on behalf of the RCC expressed his sincere thanks to members of the delegation, stressing that, the peoples of Ghana and Burkina Faso were one in spite of the fact that the two countries had different colonial masters.

Earlier on, the team visited the Navrongo Health Research Centre, the Irrigation Company of Upper Region (ICOUR) at Tono, and the Kassena-Nankana District Assembly to learn about their operations. 17 Aug. 05