Tenkudogo (Burkina Faso), July 14, GNA - Mr Alhassan Samari, Upper East Regional Minister and Mr Simeon Sawadogo, Minister for Central East Region of Burkina Faso have reiterated plans to work as a team to develop their regions and strengthen the relationship between Ghana and Burkina Faso.

They said the two regions had so far been collaborating in agriculture, health, and trade and would strengthen the team work between them to tackle issues on Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Immunization and Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM). The two Ministers were speaking at a meeting in Tenkudogo, capital town of Central East Region of Burkina Faso, at the weekend before the inauguration of Bagre Dam that had in the past contributed to flooding in the Upper East Region during a spillage. They noted that but for the political barriers, people from the two Regions who spoke the same dialects and had similar traditions and cultures would not have had any differences living together. In trade and agriculture, movements across the two countries would be made easy by relaxing some immigration restrictions while farmers continue to organize to undertake exchange field trips to learn from each other, techniques that would help improve their farm yield and methods of storage.

While the two Ministers tried to communicate in the official languages of French and English, they had no problem conversing freely in the Moshie dialect.

The Bagre Dam provides 10 per cent of the electricity needs of Burkina Faso and is used extensively for irrigation, farming and livestock rearing. It was rehabilitated and expanded to increase its capacity and thereby reduce the need for spillage. Mr Samari was invited to the inauguration because of the friendly relationship between the two regions and Ghana's interest in the dam.