The Centre for Asian Studies’s(CAS) three day historic International Symposium commemorating 40 years of Ghana-Korea Relations wrapped up on April 13, 2017 with a Conference Roundtable on “ 40 Years hence: What should Ghana-Korea Relations should look like?” The theme for the Symposium, which took place on the beautiful and idyllic campus of the University of Ghana, Legon, was : 40years of Ghana-Korea Relations-Retrospectives and Prospects.” Over 600 participants took part in the conference during which four roundtables were held and eleven papers presented on various facets of Ghana-Korea relations. Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFRI) through her senior officials including the Director of Asia-Pacific Bureau Mr. Eric Owusu-Boateng took active part in the deliberations of the conference.

At the Opening Ceremony which took place on April 11, 2017 were Prof. Kofi Anyidoho, Chairman; Mr. Charles Owiredu, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs; Prof. Samuel Agyei-Mensah, Provost, College of Humanities; Mrs. Li Han, deputy head of Mission, Korean Embassy, Accra and Dr. Lloyd G. Adu Amoah, CAS’s acting director.

In the keynote address delivered on her behalf by the deputy minister Mr. Charles Owiredu, Ghana’s foreign minister Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey lauded the long fraternal relations between the two countries and recounted the mutually beneficial economic, political, diplomatic and cultural links that had cemented the friendship. Madam Botchwey emphasized the need to deal with challenges such as the unfair treatment some Ghanaian illegal migrants faced in Korea as the two nations deepened their ties in the coming decades.

The Special Guest of Honour was the Korean Ambassador H.E. Woon-Ki Lyeo who was represented by the deputy-Head of mission Mrs. Li Han. In her speech Mrs. Han drew attention to the dynamic nature of economic and industrial relations between Ghana and Korea over the last four decades and indicated that this was concretely exemplified in the opening in 2015 of the Korea Eximbank’s Representative office in Accra and with it the setting up of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund. She was gratified that the Centre for Asian Studies was organizing the symposium adding that “as we mark the 40th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, I believe that the bilateral relations will be much expanded and strengthened between the two countries.”

CAS’s acting director, Dr. Lloyd G. Adu Amoah, in his welcome address(https://www.academia.edu/…/4O_years_of_Ghana-Korea_Relation…) stressed that the symposium was organized “to concentrate minds on reflections on Ghana’s modern nationhood within the framework of 40 years of her relations with the Republic of Korea”. Dr. Amoah made a passionate plea for well meaning Ghanaians especially in corporate Ghana and CAS’s international partners to support the Centre train the next generation of Ghanaian and African Asianists.

Prof. Samuel Agyei-Mensah, Provost of the College of Humanities, averred that the setting up of CAS by the University of Ghana showed the premier university’s unalloyed commitment to training and research on Asia as part of its strategy to be a world class teaching, research and academic exchange hub.

Prof. Kofi Anyidoho of the Department of English, University of Ghana, Legon stressed in his remarks that Ghana needed to take its local language policy serious as a vehicle for national development as Korea had done.