Tenkodogo,(Burkina Faso) July 2, GNA - The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Boniface Gambila, at the weekend urged authorities in Ghana and Burkina Faso to implement programmes and policies aimed at removing the language barrier that has prevented effective interaction between the people of the two countries over the years. This is essential for the benefit of future generations and for the sustenance of the existing bonds of co-operation between the two neighbours.

Mr. Gambila made the call in a speech at the end of a three-day Joint Transboundary Consultative Forum on the White Volta Basin, held between delegates from Ghana and their Burkinabe counterparts at Tenkodogo near Ouagadougou.

He noted that the people of the two countries were the same, with common historical and cultural backgrounds. "The only barrier that has kept us apart is the language difference our English and French colonial masters imposed on us," he said.

He stressed the need for the leadership of the two countries to make conscious efforts at removing that obstacle, and went ahead to propose an exchange programme that would bring young school graduates from Burkina Faso to teach the French language in basic schools in the Upper East Region. A similar group from the Upper East would also go to teach English language in neighbouring Burkina Faso on a short to medium-term basis.

Mr. Gambila commended members of the Joint Technical Committee for formulating statutory regulations that would ensure the protection and sustainable use of resources along the White Volta Basin by communities in both Ghana and Burkina Faso.

He, however, called for measures that would move interventions in the Basin to a more practical level, such as mobilising resident communities there to plant trees in the rainy season to protect the catchment area. "It is important that we do not limit ourselves to conferences and paper work, but to practicalise the interventionary measures by moving to the Basin area frequently," he said.

On his part, the Haut-Commissaire of Boulgou Province, Mr. Pierre Bicaba, who represented the Governor of the Centre East Region of Burkina Faso, thanked management of the "Project for Improving Water Governance in the Volta Basin" (PAGEV) for organising the forum. He expressed the hope that the knowledge participants had gained on integrated land management would benefit their communities and enhance the sustainability of resources in the White Volta Basin . The PAGEV Coordinator, Mr. Kwame Odame-Ababio, said there was a long history of collaboration between the two countries and that the same spirit of co-operation should be exhibited when it came to the sharing of common natural resources.

Dr. Charles Biney, Acting Executive Director of the Volta Basin Authority based in Ouagadougou, urged particpants to share the experiences gained at the forum with members of their respective communities back at home.

The Third Joint Consultative Forum of the White Volta Basin Communities within the pilot zone of PAGEV aims at consolidating the processes of trans-boundary management of water resources in the Basin. To this end, a local Trans-boundary Committee for the management of water resources of the White Volta Basin was established at the Tenkodogo forum.

It brought together about 80 participants from various institutions in Burkina Faso and Ghana, including the Volta Basin Authority (VBA), Directorate General for Water Resouces (DGRE), Water Resources Commission (WRC), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Global Water Partnership of West Africa (GWP/WA), political and administrative authorities, technical services, local communities and civil society.