A delegation from the Kalletal Municipality in Germany has paid a working visit to the Ketu South Municipal Assembly.

The visit forms part of a partnership on climate change and other developmental projects between the two municipalities.  

The one-week visit took members of the delegation, namely; Regina Latyschew, Matthias Ansbach, Ulrich Schlotthauer and Henrike Sieker to some tourist areas as well as project sites of the Ketu South Municipal Assembly.

The partnership is to help both municipalities find lasting solutions to combat climate change.

In a welcome address at a staff durbar held in honour of the delegations who represented the Mayor of Kalletal Municipality, Mayor Mario Hecker,  the MCE for Ketu South, Maxwell Lugudor reiterated the Assembly’s commitment to making sure that both municipalities benefit positively from each other for the development of all. 

Mr Lugudor, who last year led a delegation from the Ketu South Assembly to the Kalletal Municipality in Germany, noted that aside from the climate change issues, the two municipalities have plans for educational exchange for some selected senior high schools in both countries.

Mr. Lugudor noted that each year, 15 to 20 students from each nation will be chosen to participate in educational exchange programmes, giving them the chance to learn about and gain a deeper understanding of their respective nations.

Back to climate change, he noted that partnering with Germany will give them the opportunity to learn new ways from Germany on helping them combat climate change.

He noted that the devastating effects of tidal waves in the Ketu South area have really opened his eyes to the importance of looking for ways in compacting the climate change challenges in the country. 

“This climate change is one of the things that is worrying now and we might sit down in the corner and say why climate change? I don’t know. I mean, what is climate change? Why should I maybe partner with Germany?” he asked.

The MCE noted that with the partnership with the Germany team, a lot of development projects will be brought to the municipality to help grow the local economy.

The team lead for the Kalletal Municipality, Henrike Sieker in a speech read on behalf of the Kalletal Municipal Mayor, Mario Hecker, noted that both countries will greatly benefit from each other in terms of developmental projects and also enhance fruitful relationships.

She noted that the guideline of their programmes is to help with sustainability strategy so that people consider the global impact in their everyday decisions, and work for a more environmentally friendly and socially fair world.

Mario Hecker through Henrike Sieker noted that their climate partnership is a way to recognise global connections and challenges in a more clear way to be able to align “our own actions or our municipal actions.” 

She noted that the visit to Ketu South municipality was in the right direction to having a long-lasting working relationship in dealing with climate change. 

The partnership between the two municipalities aims to strengthen partnerships between German municipalities and municipalities in the global South that jointly address issues of climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

It also helps mobilise the comprehensive expertise available within the municipalities. 

Through the project, climate change adaptation and mitigation are systematically integrated into the work of the municipal partnership. 

The project partnership designs concrete and joint programmes of actions for climate change adaptation and mitigation that includes objectives, measures and allocated resources.  

The Kalletal Municipal Assembly delegation also used the occasion to plant some trees on the premises of the Ketu South Assembly  just like the Ketu South MCE did last year during a visit to Germany.