Ghana has agreed to begin immediate negotiations with Slovakia on a visa waiver agreement, Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said.
Mr Ablakwa made the announcement on Monday, November 9, after receiving the Open Letters of four new non-resident Ambassadors to Ghana.
The envoys were Her Excellency Anna Westerholm, Ambassador-Designate of Sweden to Ghana; His Excellency Martin Podstavek, Ambassador-Designate of Slovakia to Ghana; Her Excellency Sanna Selin, Ambassador-Designate of Finland to Ghana; and His Excellency Thirapath Mongkolnavin.
In a post on his X page, Mr Ablakwa said Slovakia would also host a Ghana-Slovakia business forum within the next two weeks. The meeting will focus on the automotive, banking and pharmaceutical sectors.
“Slovakia will host a Ghana-Slovakia business forum within the next two weeks focusing on the automotive, banking and pharmaceutical sectors. We are also exploring a partnership to deliver buses and a vehicle assembly plant in Ghana,” he said.
Mr Ablakwa said Ghana and Sweden valued their longstanding relationship, which dates back to the 17th-century. He added that Sweden would support efforts to develop cooperation under President Mahama’s New Economy initiative.
“Sweden will work with us to advance our cooperation under President Mahama’s New Economy initiative. Areas of focus include railway construction, AI investments, agribusiness, partnerships to digitalize revenue administration and defence cooperation,” he said.
He also said Ghana intended to strengthen its existing relationship with Finland through further cooperation in several areas.
“We have agreed to expand existing cooperation in education, TVET, Fintech incubation, maritime security and counterterrorism collaboration.”
Ghana’s BRICS application
Mr Ablakwa said Ghana and Thailand would cooperate on Ghana’s application for BRICS partnership, with Thailand serving as a successful official BRICS partner nation.
The two countries also agreed to hold political consultations and exchange expertise on rice production. The aim, he said, was to reduce Ghana’s unsustainable rice imports while building local capacity and creating jobs.
“Ghana and Thailand have also agreed to hold political consultations, exchange expertise on rice production with the view to curbing Ghana’s unsustainable rice imports and create local capacity and jobs, share knowledge on labour mobility partnerships and deepen fisheries cooperation in order to boost the production of canned fish in Ghana under a special partnership,” he said.