Ghana, India to build Foreign Policy Institute(12/11/08)

GHANA and India yesterday laid the foundation for the construction of a $5 million Foreign Policy Institute at Okponglo in Accra to train Ghanaian diplomats.
The ceremony was jointly performed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD, Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, and his Indian counterpart, Mr Anand Sharma.
The institute, which would be called the John Agyekum Kufuor Foreign Policy Institute, would be in recognition of the President’s contribution to the enhancement of Ghana’s image in order to advocate the stability and development of Africa in the councils of the world.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Osei-Adjei said the accomplishment of the President had earned him respect and recognition from his peers around the world.
The minister said the decision to establish the institute arose from the need to develop a repository for the ideas and experiences of Ghanaian diplomats after they retired from active service.
He said this was because the knowledge and experiences acquired by the ambassadors during their years were lost and added that the institute would, as a faculty, train young diplomats in the practical aspects of the profession.
The training facility will differ in concept from the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA), but will focus on the practical preparedness of the young diplomats to serve at post effectively, the minister stated.
He also said that it would complement what LECIA offered, which essentially, was to promote academic excellence in international affairs.
Mr Osei-Adjei said the institute, which would be completed in nine months, would possess a language laboratory and a first-class auditorium, which would be named after Jawaharal Nehru, a distinguished Indian Statesman, whose collaboration with Dr Kwame Nkrumah and others, gave moral and political leadership to the world and championed the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement.
For his part, Mr Anand Sharma urged Ghanaians to invest in training more people and building more schools to be able to harness effective human resource.
The project would be undertaken by Mohan Export (India) Pvt. Limited, a leading international business house in India.