Accra, Jan. 30, GNA - The High Commission of India on Monday night held a reception to crown activities to mark that country's 58th Republic Day celebrations.

It was attended by a host of dignitaries including, Members of Council of State; Ministers of State; Members of the Diplomatic Corps as well as members of the Indian community in Ghana.

Mr Rajesh Nandan Prasad, High Commissioner of India, in an address expressed satisfaction at the continuous growth in India-Africa relations.

He said India's relations with Africa had a strong historical linkage and a solid political foundation.

He cited India's commitment to South-South cooperation; its technical assistance and capacity building programmes and also occasional lines of credit to Ghana and Africa and contributions to peacekeeping operations as indications of these strong links.

Mr Prasad noted that Africa had been the largest recipient of India's technical cooperation programmes saying; "we have so far extended more than one billion dollars worth of such assistance, which includes training; deputation of experts; carrying out feasibility studies and implementation of projects".

He also said over 15,000 African students studied in India, with over 1,000 officials from Sub-Saharan Africa receiving training. The High Commissioner said India stood ready to actively assist Ghana achieve its aspirations and goals, which were co-shared by India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, first president of the Ghana and maintained ever since.

"Our First Leaders laid a strong foundation of bilateral ties just after the independence of the two countries which we wish to maintain and strengthen."

Mr Prasad mentioned projects such as the Pan-African e-Network Project, which was launched recently by India, as a fresh dimension to its partnership with Africa.

The Project envisages connecting the 53 African Union countries by satellite and fibre optic network, and once completed, it would provide tele-education and tele-medicine facilities from India to regional centres in Africa and also individually to each of the member countries. It would also provide effective communication and connectivity to all the AU countries including voice and video conferencing facilities among the Heads of States.

Mr Prasad congratulated President John Agyekum Kufuor and people of Ghana on the occasion of Ghana's 50th Independence Day Anniversary. He said Ghana-Indian ties appeared to have come full circle where the office and seat of the President of Ghana was expected to move once again to its earlier location and coincidentally to be constructed by an Indian company with financial assistance from the Indian Government and described it as "an ever-lasting symbol of India-Ghana friendship". Mr Prasad said some remarkable events that took place between the two countries during year included the signing of an agreement between the Press Trust of India and the Ghana News Agency in March 2006 for the exchange of news; institution of an Indian Film Festival and the first ever visit of a 16-member Ghanaian cultural troupe to India in December for the cultural festival of African countries. Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of the Interior, advocated for the immediate re-activation of the Ghana-India Trade Committee, which was established in 1981, to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

He commended the Team-9 initiative, which focused and targeted approach on economic, technical and scientific co-operation between public and private sectors of India and member countries, saying this had added "the required impetus required for our co-operation". Mr Kan-Dapaah thanked the Indian Government for its assistance to Ghana and said the nation appreciated the tremendous support. 30 Jan. 07