Mr Yu Wenzhe, Chinese Ambassador, on Friday said
the two countries are exploring new opportunities for faster development as the world undergoes unprecedented changes and adjustment.
The new opportunities include upholding the two countries' common interest through strengthened coordination, enhanced economic cooperation and more frequent cultural exchanges, the Chinese Ambassador said at the 10th anniversary of Ghana-China Friendship Association (GHACHIFA) in Accra.
GHACHIFA seeks to foster friendly relations and nongovernmental cooperation between the people of both countries and to promote people to
people exchanges; collaborations for joint ventures; cultural exchanges; joint trade missions; networking and business contacts and educational exchange programmes.
It also seeks to strengthen the bilateral relations between the governments of both countries.
Mr Yu reiterated China's eight-point development agenda for Ghana and Africa, which was outdoored at the just-ended Fourth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt.
The developmental agenda dubbed the "Sharm El Sheikh Declaration" and the three-year "Action Plan for Sharm El-Sheikh" (2010-2012) defines new
measures in pushing forward China-Africa cooperation.
He said the agenda highlights China's work to increase the volume of aid to Africa, the reduction of debt owed by African countries, maximizing the investment in the African continent, opening more markets and the
promotion of scientific cooperation with Africa.
Mr Yu said China's relationship with Ghana and the rest of the world was based on the principle of mutual respect and equality."it is driven by our joint endeavour to pursue mutually-beneficial cooperation and common development. We treat each other as friends, brothers and equal partners".
Tracing the friendship between the two countries to the era of Ghana's First President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, he said, after the Beijing
Summit in 2006, the two countries had through their relationship obtained
good results in the various fields.
He said considering the volume of trade between the two countries, it
had become quite necessary for the citizens to learn the language, culture,
customs and practices of each other.
Mr Yu appealed to Ghanaian ministries and authorities to continue improving the business environment, in order to attract more foreign
cooperation and investment and challenged Chinese companies to share their business success with the local community.
He said he Embassy would support GHACHIFA to strengthen the relationship and announced a 4,000-dollar package to promote the association's
operations.
He lauded the achievement of the Association within a short period of 10 years, which included promoting the mutual interest of the two countries, supporting China's sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity issues.
"You have offered assistance for both Chinese and Ghanaians in their bilateral business activities. Organised seminars and forums on topical issues and expression of sympathy to the victims of Wenchuan earthquake in 2008; fully reflect friendly sentiments of Ghanaians towards Chinese," Mr Yu stated.
Mr John Emmanuel Kwamina Moses, GHACHIFA Vice President of to GHACHIFA, said the Association seeks to build a vibrant relationship with China not only at the government to government level, but to improve upon the person
to person relationship and exploit all positive opportunities.
He said the Association had organised landmark events calculated to help
to foster friendship between the two nations and seeks to concretise arrangement for culture, business and social programmes.
Mr Moses said the Association is to consolidate the 40 years of diplomatic relations and cooperation between the two countries with the profound traditional friendship between both countries.
The vision of GHACHIFA, he said, was to become a vibrant organisation throughout the country, because Ghana could learn from the remarkable way China did things.
"The bilateral relations have been strengthened and deepened in political, economic, cultural and other fields in recent times. It is our belief that the establishment of Ghana-China Friendship Association will play a positive role in further promoting friendship and collaboration
between China and Ghana," he said.
He appealed to the business community to evaluate their capacities to be able to operate in the global economy.
He noted that most opportunities for Ghanaians to forge partnerships with Chinese investors in the past had been wasted, because entrepreneurs did not have the requisite know-how to match Chinese investors.