Jake: Angola should be part of outreach programme to Diaspora

Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, on Tuesday said Angola should be part of the outreach programme to the Diaspora, the healing concert and the 'Joseph Project', a project that aims at attracting more than one million tourists to the Continent through Ghana.

Angola had a huge role to play with respect to Diasporan relations more especially when Brazil had a large population of people of African descent and Angola's main language is Portuguese which is Brazil=92s national language, he said.

'Africans have to invest in Africa and we need to share experiences in the course of our relations with the Diaspora," he said. Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said this when Mr Jose Guerreiro Alves Primo, Angolan Ambassador to Ghana, paid a courtesy call on him to discuss Africa's relations with the Diaspora.

He said it was important that a delegation from Angola joined the Healing Ceremony, which is part of the Joseph Project, to be held in Ghana in August 2007 and be part of the reconciliation process between Africans on the Continent and those in the Diaspora.

Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said the Ministry would facilitate direct flights from Angola to Ghana as direct flight operations would support the 2007 vision of attracting more than one million tourists to the country and to strengthen further the relationship between Ghana and Angola.

Mr Primo noted that the added role of Diasporan relations to the Sector Ministry was very important since the outreach to the Diaspora was a challenge to the African Continent.

He said Angola had identified tourism as an important area to develop to improve development and eliminate poverty. Mr Primo expressed happiness about the development of tourism in Ghana and said Angola would like to share experiences on the tourism industry with Ghana.