Anloga, Sept. 11, GNA - Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam, Indian High Commissioner to Ghana, has observed that India and Ghana's 50 years bilateral ties had been tremendous but still needed to be spiced-up for mutual benefit.

"We still have a lot more to do in the economic, political and cultural spheres within the South-South cooperation," she stated. Mrs Ghanashyam said this at durbar of chiefs and elders of the Anlo State on Friday to mark the start of her two-day working visit to the Keta Municipal Area.

She said India reached its current development level through massive capacity building for its people soon after gaining independence from Britain and was willing to share those experiences with Ghana. The High Commissioner said though India appeared to be ahead of Ghana in development, Ghana was also doing well and had a bright future. On the first day of her visit, Mrs Ghanashyam toured the Slave Sanctuary at Atorkor, near Anloga, Anlo Technical Institute and the Keta Government Hospital Eye Clinic, built in 1994 with India government funds and named after a former Indian Prime Minister, Rao. The tour, planned to assess areas of possible Indian support in community development and agriculture, would end at the weekend at Abolorve, where Mrs Ghnanashyam would address another durbar. The High Commissioner said despite her country's long association with the Keta Area, her visit had exposed the need for more developmental support for the area, adding that three people from the area had been selected for a study tour of India. She said India had supported Ghana in many areas of development, including rural self-help electrification, railways, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Development and the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Centre.

Mr Sylvester Tornyeava, Keta Municipal Chief Executive, said the visit was an opportunity for the municipality to harness the rich experiences, support and cooperation of India, in the development of the Keta area. Togbe Agbesi Awusu II, Awadada of Anlo noted that the rapid nature of the India's development was a wakeup call for other third world countries to re-strategize their development focus.