Koforidua, April 2, GNA - The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Yaw Barimah, has called on political parties in the region to co-operate with his administration to ensure total development of the region. He expressed the belief that people from different political parties could work together without sacrificing the principles that separate them as people belonging to different political persuasions. Mr Barimah made the call at a reception he held for leaders of political parties in the region at Koforidua on Friday.

He urged the representatives of political parties to love their individual parties "but always you should remember that the development of the country is over and above everything."

Mr Barimah said after the elections, "the time for competition among the political parties is over and the current situation demand for co-operation" and assured the representatives that he would run an open administration.

He invited the representatives of the parties who have ideas to share on the development of the region to come forward for discussions.

The Eastern Regional Organiser of the National Democratic Congress(NDC), Mr Tawiah Boateng, gave the assurance that his party was ready to share its experience with the ruling party and called for the extension of the idea of co-operation among the political parties to all the structures of the ruling party, including the constituencies. The Regional Youth Organiser of NDC, Mr Kweku Asamoah, advised the Regional Minister to sponsor the organization of a workshop for the regional and constituency youth organisers of all the political parties in the region to educate them to realize that people in other political parties are not their enemies.

He explained that, such a workshop could help reduce the seeming political tension existing among the political parties in the region. The Regional Chairman of the Convention People's Party(CPP), Nana Owusu Sekyere, called on sympathizers of political parties in the region to tone down their utterances on the air to promote peace, tolerance and unity in the country.

Mr Godwin Tay, the Regional Education Officer of the People's National Convention (PNC), urged the Minister to ensure that members of other political parties were also considered for allocation of the Poverty Alleviation Fund and also got the chance to actively participate in all development programmes in the region.

He called on government facilities used also be at the disposal of individuals, political parties and communities.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Adi Ankamah, appealed to the leadership of all political parties in the region to help sustain the co-operation that had existed between them.