Accra, March 1, GNA - Shareworld Travels, an indigenous Christian travel agency specializing in pilgrimage trips to Israel and other religious sites, is to use Unibank to receive payments of travel expenses by pilgrims. This followed an agreement signed with the bank in Accra on Monday. According to the agreement, all Christians interested in paying pilgrimage to Israel and other religious countries can go to any Unibank branch nationwide and pay towards the trip to a special Shareworld Travels account enabling the company to acquire all necessary visas and traveling documents covering the trip.

It also states, in the event that Shareworld Travels fails to honour its obligation, the pilgrims could walk to Unibank to collect their money and vice versa.

Mr Isaac Kuffour, Director General of Shareworld Travels signed on behalf of the company while Mr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Unibank, signed on behalf of the bank in Accra on Monday

Mr Kuffour said the company had in the last three years organized the trip to Israel for members from the Christ the King Church, the Pentecost and other selected Christian associations adding the arrangement with the bank manifested its experience in the industry.

He said the company usually organized the trip in October every year but added that with increased patronage, it had planned to commence two-times a year trip, to be organized in March and October. He mentioned some of the places that the pilgrims visited and prayed which include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Mountain of Temptation, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, River Jordan, Gethsemane, Golgotha, Jesus' tomb, Mountain of Ascension saying they were carefully selected to connect Christians to the history of faith.

He said the trip was not meant for those seeking greener pastures and urged genuine pilgrims and the general public to patronize the service to enrich their religious life.

Mr Owusu-Amoah said the bank was upbeat about its relationship with Shareworld Travels adding that it had consequently developed a soft loan package payable between one and 24 months, to be accessed by interested pilgrims to enable them to embark on the trip.

He said the bank was committed to strengthening the Christian pilgrimage to ensure that Christians fulfilled their spiritual obligation adding "that is why we have also developed loan packages to assist churches to acquire musical instruments and undertake other projects for their development".

He assured interested pilgrims and the public that all payments they would make to the Shareworld Travels account were safe and urged them to patronize the service. Mrs Tali Tal, representative of the Israeli Embassy in Ghana commended both companies for the agreement and assured that her office would continue to provide the necessary assistance to facilitate the trip. Mrs Tal said Israel continued to remain a destination of choice when it came to issues about the Christian religion adding that beyond religion, Israel also offered interesting tourist sites that pilgrims could visit for their relaxation. 1 Mar. 10