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The First lady, Lordina Mahama has lauded China for the contribution it has made to the economic growth and development of Ghana. According to her, the two countries have developed a strong friendship and worked closely for common goals on the international scene. Lordina Mahama was speaking at a reception in Accra for Ghanaian students who have been awarded scholarships by the Chinese government to pursue various degrees, post-graduate and PHD programmes in China. �For over 50 years, Ghana and China have developed a rather strong friendship and worked closely for common goals on the international scene, in our pursuit of economic, social, cultural and social development� She noted . According to her, under the framework of the China �Africa Cooperation Forum, Ghana has made major achievements in different areas of bilateral cooperation adding that Ghana has benefitted from various forms of financial and technical assistance from the Chinese government including the well- known CDB loan facility. In the area of Human Resource Development, Mrs. Lordina Mahama said the Chinese Government grants more scholarship and training courses to Ghanaians to study in China. �Since 1984, the Chinese government has given the Ghana government more than two hundred postgraduate scholarships through the scholarship secretariat �she added. The first lady urged the Ghanaians students who are going to study in China to take their studies seriously and respect the laws and cultures and the great unity of the Chinese people. For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Gong Jianzhong noted China attaches great importance to its cooperation with Ghana in the field of education. �According to our record, since 1998, a total of 549 Ghanaian students have been awarded with Chinese government scholarship, and 1500 trainees have been sponsored by the Chinese to be trained in China in the last five years.� he noted. A total of one hundred and eleven Ghanaian students will leave for China next week to study on Chinese government scholarship.