Kumasi, March 27, GNA - The German Government has pledged more support towards the development of education and manpower to boost the country's economy. Mr Hans Christian Winkler, Deputy Head of Mission at German Embassy in Accra who announced this, said they were collaborating with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD on how to increase the support.

He was addressing the opening session of a four-day conference on International Management of Resources and Environment, at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and technology (KNUST) Business School in Kumasi on Tuesday.

It was organised by Technical University of Mines of Freiberg in Germany in collaboration with authorities of KNUST. The conference under the theme "Managing Africa's Resources on Sustainable Basis" was attended by 36 participants from Ghana, Germany, Bolivia, Nigeria, Malaysia, industry and international organisations. Mr Winkler commended Ghanaian students in Germany for their comportment and hard work that made them to attain good results in their studies and urged them to keep it up. Dr Helike Edelmana-Okinda, Director at Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) German Academic Exchange Service Office in Ghana, said more than 500 Ghanaians had been offered scholarships to study in about 200 different programmes in German Universities. She said plans were far advanced to bring some German students to Ghana as part of the exchange programme and urged Ghanaian universities to waive the academic tuition fee to encourage German students to come and learn in Ghana in reciprocate to Ghanaian students in German universities.

Mr Jonathan Allotey, Executive Director of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said although the mining sector impacted positively on the country's economy through job creation and capacity enhancement, development of basic infrastructure and other development projects within its catchment areas had not been the best. He called for a comprehensive cost benefit analysis to be conducted to ensure the country received maximum benefits from exploration of mineral resources.