38 Immigration Officers Trained to Speak and Write Chinese

Thirty eight officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) have benefitted from a Chinese Proficiency language course.

This is to enable them communicate effectively with Chinese nationals and other tourists as they go through immigration procedure in the country.

The 8-week course, organised by the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana and sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Ghana, equipped the officers with the speaking and writing of Basic Chinese language as well as Chinese culture.

At a closing programme in Accra, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, Edith Penelope Arhin, the GIS Commander of KIA, said about one-fifth of the world's population used Chinese language to conduct businesses and that equipping immigration officers with the language would facilitate their work at the Airports.

The Deputy Comptroller General, Immigration, OPS Laud Kwasi Ofori Afrifa, , said about 60 immigration officers had so far received the Basic Chinese language training to help them to interact with the huge number of Chinese nationals, who passed through the Airports.

"For immigration officers, language is very key to our work, so it is important and appreciated that the Chinese Embassy has built the capacities of our officers through this course," he said, noting that, it would remove the cost of employing interpreters.

"Language is a barrier and once it is broken, many doors would be opened for immigration officers," he added.

Mr Zhu Jing, the Political Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Ghana, commended the Confucius Institute for developing the capacities of immigration officers in the country.

Mr Zhu recounted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo's recent visit to China resulted in the signing of about eight bilateral agreements, which would boost the economic cooperation and also result in people-to-people exchange of the two countries.

He, therefore, urged the Institute to continue to train many Ghanaians, who were interested in learning the Chinese language and culture to further strengthen the ties between the two sides.

---GNA