She said Japan actively supported Ghana during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, which included regular consultations and exchange of visits, which kept the interest of Japanese in Ghana strong.

Ms Akpaloo made the appeal at a dinner she hosted for members of the Japan-Ghana Parliamentary Friendship League.

The League is made up of some members of the African Caucus of Japanese Members of Parliament (MPs) who have special interest in Ghana.

Guests

The dinner was attended by four Japanese MPs, the Honorary Consul of Ghana in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Dr Itara Ishi and secretary to the Chairman of the Japan-Ghana Parliamentary Friendship League, Kaaki Lee.

The MPs were Manaba Sakai, chairman, Hisayuki Fuji, Yasushi Hosaka and Tomohiro Yamamoto.

Also at the dinner were the Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, the Director- General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Prof. Amin Alhassan, and the Director of Finance at GBC, Rev. Ebenezer Botwe, who attended a conference of the Public Broadcasters International ( PBI) Tokyo 2022.

Support/Gratitude

Mr Sakai pledged that the League would do all that must be done to ensure that Japan unconditionally supports the development of Ghana and called for stronger collaboration between Ghana and Japan.

Prof. Alhassan conveyed through the League the gratitude of GBC to the People and Government of Japan for supporting GBC in rehabilitating its studio through the Japan International Cooperation Agreement (JICA).

The chairman of the NMC, Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh, thanked the MPs for their interest in Ghana and encouraged the Ambassador to work with her Japanese counterparts to improve trade between Ghana and Japan so that aid would only be supplementary to trade.