The 2nd India-Ghana Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) 2021 were held at Accra, Capital of Ghana. Rahul Chhabra, Secretary (Economic Relations) from Indian side and Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from the Ghanaian side co-chaired the Meeting.
- During the meeting, the two sides undertook a review of bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.
- They also took note of the exchange of bilateral visits, holding of Joint Commission Meeting, defence cooperation, pending MoUs and others.
- The 1st FOC between India & Ghana took place at New Delhi in 2019.
Key Points
i.India’s Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP) and Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate human resource development and capacity building for development and strengthening the technical capabilities of GAEC.
- The MoU was signed by Rahul Chhabra, Secretary (ER) from Indian side and Professor B.J.B. Nyarko, Director General of GAEC from the Ghanaian side.
ii.India had donated 50,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Ghana as a gesture of friendship and 6,00,000 COVISHIELD made-in-India vaccines under COVAX initiative.
iii.In January 2021, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan from January 6-7, 2021 visited Ghana to attend the inauguration of President Akufo-Addo for his 2nd term as President of Ghana.
India-Ghana Bilateral Relationship
The Bilateral trade between India & Ghana stood at USD 4.5 billion in 2018-19, however in 2019-20, the trade declined to USD 2.4 billion on account of low import of gold by India.
- India has extended Development assistance worth USD 500 million for Ghana through Lines of Credit.
- An additional amount of USD 500 million was allocated under Buyers Credit for various projects, including the iconic Presidential palace, Tema-Mpakadan railway line and India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT (Information & Communication Technology).
- Besides this, India is also supporting Ghana through scholarships for University education, Fellowships for research and skill and human resource development under ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation) including e-VBAB.
Recent Related News:
March 10, 2021, 6,00,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India, were offered to Ghana under the vaccine deployment initiative of the United Nations (UN), making it the 1st country in the world to receive COVAX vaccines.
About Ghana
President – Akufo-Addo
Capital – Accra
Currency – Ghanaian cedi (GHS)
