Australian Alumni share expertise in Mining for Development
3 February 2015, Accra – Over 80 Ghanaians who have previously attended Australian-funded mining courses met today in Accra to exchange ideas on new initiatives and best practice in Ghana’s mining sector.
The Honourable Nii Osah Mills, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, delivered the keynote speech at the “Ghana Mining for Development Alumni Day,” alongside several other notable speakers including Dr. Toni Aubynn, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s Minerals Commission, and Dr Valerio Bosco of the Addis Ababa-based African Minerals Development Centre.
The Ghana Mining for Development Alumni Day focussed on the theme “Collaboration for change: mineral resources for shared prosperity,” and was hosted by Australia’s International Mining for Development Centre (IM4DC) with support by the Australian Government.
“This event brings together talented alumni to share ideas and encourage each other to apply the expertise, skills and relationships built through this assistance to contribute to the broader development of Ghana to improve economic development and standards of living,” Australian Head of Development Cooperation for West Africa, Ms Zabeta Moutafis, said in her opening remarks.
Robin Evans, Deputy Director of the IM4DC, commented on the strength of the alumni cohort in Ghana: “Empowering alumni to influence change in their own contexts is at the core of the IM4DC program, and here in Ghana we have an engaged and diverse group across government agencies, civil society and academic institutions, all focussed on ensuring that Ghana realises positive outcomes from the continued development of its mineral resource endowment.”
Australia has a long history of providing capacity-building support to Ghana and countries across Africa. Participants at today’s event had benefitted from courses in mining and mining governance conducted by IM4DC, the Australia-Africa Partnership Facility (AAPF), and Australia Awards Africa programs over the last four years.
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