Eight delegates from Tamale, Ghana, have arrived in Louisville for the Tamale Business Development Conference tomorrow through next Saturday sponsored by Sister Cities of Louisville and several local businesses.

The theme of the conference is building friendship and business on a Sister Cities foundation by helping meet the needs of companies and entrepreneurs from both Tamale (pronounced tah-MAH-lee) and Louisville.

Louisville has been a sister city of Tamale since 1979. It is the capital city of the northern region of Ghana, a nation on the West African coast.

The Tamale and Louisville partnership won three out of 11 awards presented at the International Sister City Conference last summer in Fort Worth, Texas -- including two for development efforts. There are about 2,400 registered Sister City partnerships worldwide.

Dr. Susan Herlin, co-chair of the Tamale Committee for Sister Cities of Louisville and recipient of the Sister City volunteer award last year, welcomed several of the delegates to her home.

"Of the eight, six are friends already. I am really looking forward to getting to know the other two," she said.

The delegates include building and road contractors, a radio station owner and a hotel manager, among other business people. They will be touring Louisville, staying with host families and eating in local restaurants throughout the week.

State Sen. Gerald Neal will deliver a keynote speech at 11:30 a.m. Monday at Jefferson Technical College, 722 W. Chestnut St., in Room 121 of Building B. Neal's speech is free and open to the public.

For people interested in participating in the two general sessions on Monday and Tuesday, or in presenting their business to the delegates, there is a charge of $25. Business people should call Paige Pearman at the Sister Cities office, 574-3397, for more information.

Monday's events run from 11:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday's session, in the same location, runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.