Germany’s Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek traveled to Ghana this week as part of a working visit to the country.
Karliczek and her delegation spent three days in Accra engaging with Ghanaian officials on a wide range of educational and research related issues.
The minister had the chance to be briefed on some research activities taking place in the country, initiatives that are supported by the German government.
Those research activities include, TAKeOFF for Tackling the Obstacles to Fight Filariasis and Adaption of systemic concrete Infrastructure to environment-related challenges and risks” referred to as INFRACOST.
The other initiative was the BMBF-Young researchers group “Water Power: The collision of mega-trends in a West African coastal city.
Karliczek also spent time visiting the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS).
A declaration of Intent on cooperation between AIMS and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research was signed during her visit.
The Africa Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AMIS) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
The German Government signed a five-year partnership to run a programme known as Next Einstein Initiative, with the aim of building the capacities of mathematics and science students in Africa.
Engagement with Ghanaian officials
There were other engagements with Ghanaian government officials including the Ghana’s Education minister, Mathew Opoku Prempeh.
Discussions focused on further strengthening the relationship between Ghana and Germany and cooperating further in the area of education.
The Ghanaian minister, Prempeh said “I was glad to learn that Germany continues to hold Ghana in high esteem and was impressed with our reformation agenda in education especially when it came to the revamp of our Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).”
He adds that “To this effect, Mrs. Karliczek reiterated Germany’s commitment to supporting Ghana in the area of skills development and technical training toward her Ghana Beyond Aid agenda”.
Minister Karliczek said after the two ministers signed an for support to develop the skills of its youth in the Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) sector that Germany wants “to help Africa to stabilize its economy and Ghana is no exception.”
She said Germany was convinced that technical and vocational training brought out the creativity of young people with practical hands-on training to develop its economy.
The minister also signed a grant agreement of €5,026,027 with the Ghanaian government for the construction of a community waste-to-energy project in the Ashanti Region.
The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, signed the agreement for Ghana.
Ms Karliczek expressed her optimism for the project’s success adding that “We are tackling two urgent challenges in Ghana together: waste and energy.
We learn that every day 12,000 tonnes of municipal waste is produced in Ghana and is inadequately processed.”
Minister Karliczek left Ghana with her delegation on Wednesday.
She described her visit to Ghana as fruitful and revealing.
Source: Africafeeds.com
