The one-day lecture themed: “Africa and China: economics, culture and development” addressed the economic ties between Africa and China with regards to trade, aid and investment which have become phenomenal among the two countries.

Dr. Lloyd G. Adu Amoah, faculty and acting Director of the Centre for Asian studies (CAS) University Of Ghana, Legon who delivered a lecture said the African continent needs to industrialize.

“We need to industrialize because if we don’t it means we are not adding value to what the Africa continent has.  There is a new thinking that if you have raw materials you can use it as a leverage to industrialize and the Chinese understands this. Africans must learn from the Chinese.”

Director, Confucius Institute, University Of Ghana, Dr. Meilian Mei explained the role of cultural exchange in Africa-China relations.

According to her, the study of the Chinese language by Africans will aid Africans understand the Chinese culture better.

“Understanding communication between two parties is very important, learning Chinese language helps to have a more harmonious world. People who learn the language on the African continent have chance of getting a better and substantial job.”

For his part, Webster university of Ghana campus, International Relations Alum, Noble Kofi Nazzah outlined some development strategies for the 21^st century: the Washington consensus versus the Asian model.

According to him, the African continent can adopt some development strategies from the Asian continent such as existence of a fully functional non-political meritocratic bureaucracy on the Asian continent which helps stirs development in certain direction.

Webster is an American University based in St. Louis, Missouri with international campuses in nine countries including Ghana.

It gives students the opportunity of completing their degrees in any one of its network campuses in North America, Europe and Asia and also pays for their air ticket while they study abroad.

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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