A Ghanaian, Dr Sebastian K Bemile was elected Vice President of the International Association of Teachers of German (IATG) at its meeting at Lucerne, in German speaking part of Switzerland.

The IATG was formed in 1964 and has about 1,800 members from 90 countries and seeks to encourage people to learn the German language in their respective countries.

Speaking to the media in Accra, Dr Bemile, who is the Director of the Ghana Institute of Languages, said his election was a result of his hard work towards the promotion of the German language in the country and the sub-region.

His election to this position, according to him was to the admiration of the gathering as he was the first African to hold such a position and more especially when Ghana was mentioned as his country of origin.

The position of the President, he said went to a member from Slovakia. Dr Bemile, 56 year-old Linguistics Scholar, was one of five people that were given the Goethe Medal at Weimer in Germany in March 1997.

The Goethe Medal is one of Germany's highest awards given to people, who play outstanding roles in the promotion of German language in their respective countries.

Dr Bemile would serve a four-year term and act as a link between IATG and other associations of German Language teachers.

He would be an intermediary between Ghana and other African countries where German is taught. The association, according to him had no headquarters but normally took the country of residence of the president as its headquarters.

Dr Bemile, who is also the President of the Ghana Association of Teachers of German, said the learning of one another's language ensured understanding, tolerance and promoted mutual respect among people.

He said the German language had been introduced into some schools under a pilot programme and expressed the hope that the ministry of education would encourage it as an elective subject in all second cycle institutions. He appealed to students, who have been given the opportunity to learn the language to take advantage of it.