The Western Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and the Canary Islands in Spain have signed an agreement to help promote trading activities and strengthen the existing cooperation.
The Cooperation Agreement was made in Las Palmas de Gran in Spain between the Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, Regional Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment, and the Western Regional Coordinating Council.
It will ensure the identification of projects of economic interest, promote entrepreneurship, renewable energy, water technology, innovation and information technology, among others.
It also looks at how students from the Western Region could get scholarships from the University of Las Palmas and how the Port of Las Palmas could collaborate with the Port of Takoradi for the mutual benefits of the two countries.
At the opening ceremony of a Ghana Forum in Spain recently, the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, said the agreement was to establish a permanent framework for action between the government of the Canary Islands and Ghana through the Western Region.
He said the Western Region was endowed with rich natural resources such as gold, manganese, crude oil, natural gas, kaolin (clay), limestone, rubber, and cocoa, among others.
In other areas of tourism, the minister said, the region has about 192-kilometre coastline with sandy beaches, forts and castles, forest reserves, and a village on stilts (Nzulezo), making it one of the country’s important tourist destinations.
Mr Darko-Mensah said “the Cooperation Agreement, which was made in Las Palmas de Gran, on April 7, 2022 has been given further impetus by our very presence here at this ceremony”.
He said it was important to encourage the respective public and private sectors to work jointly in favour of the sectors set out in the Cooperation Agreement.
He said it was the expectation of the RCC and its counterparts in the Canarias that “this trade and business relationship, which is being cemented today, would contribute to our mutual benefit”.
The Regional Minister of Economy, Knowledge And Employment of The Canary Islands, Mrs Elena Máñez Rodríguez, expressed her outfit’s commitment to the collaboration.
She said the two regions have a lot to offer and that through collaboration, the people of the two countries would be the beneficiaries.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi