Ichinomiya, Japan, June 29, GNA - Ichinomiya, a town in the Aichi Prefecture in Japan, is to establish a sister -city relationship with a city in Ghana for educational and cultural exchange programmes for accelerated socio-economic development. As an initial step towards this, the National Dance Company of Ghana, on Wednesday, displayed Ghana's rich cultural and traditional dances to the Mayor and people of Ichinomiya at an impressive ceremony, in Ichinomiya.

The plan to establish the sister-city relationship, culminated from the adoption of all the about 125 participating countries by the various cities in the Aichi Prefecture, which is hosting the ongoing World Exposition, dubbed 'World Expo 2005', in Japan, as part of activities of the exposition.

The 185-day exposition, is under the main theme: " Nature's Wisdom", with three sub-themes of " Nature's Matrix; "Art of Life" and "Development for Eco-Communities", and is aimed at "building a new civilization in harmony with the mechanisms of nature".

Speaking at the function, Ghana's Ambassador to Japan, Dr Baffuor Adjei-Barwuah said he was optimistic that the establishment of the sister -city relationship, would help strengthen the relationship between Japan and Ghana. He said the town of Ichnomiya could provide support for some "aspects of development in Ghana", and was hopeful that the proposed cultural and educational exchange programmes would be particularly beneficial to Ghana.

The Mayor of Ichinomiya, Mr Takamasa Suzuki deplored the conflicts currently raging on in some countries, and stressed that in line with the theme of the exposition, there was the need for mankind to "use nature's wisdom" to help create a peaceful world. He hinted that his town adopted Ghana, as part of the exposition, because of his country's and Ghana's relationship due to Dr Nugouchi's research in Ghana, and also because a citizen of the town took part in a volunteer programme in Ghana.

Mr Suzuki said he was optimistic that the establishment of a sister-city relationship between his town and a city in Ghana would further deepen existing the relationship between his country and Ghana. With Ichnomiya's adoption of Ghana at the exposition, some of its citizens have been selected to help to highlight some of Ghana's traditional customs when Ghana holds her national day on Thursday.