Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
India and Ghana are looking to widen their comprehensive partnership into sectors such as pharmaceuticals, health, mining, defence, railways and digital technology, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said after talks with Ghanaian Foreign Minister Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa. The two sides also discussed closer coordination on Global South issues, while Ghana announced that it would formally seek membership of BRICS.
Jaishankar, who arrived in Ghana on Tuesday on the first leg of his three-nation tour of African countries that also includes Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia, said the relationship now needed to move into newer areas. The India-Ghana bilateral relationship was elevated to a comprehensive partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ghana in July 2025.
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“Now that we have established a comprehensive partnership, we need to live up to that. We need to find new areas of cooperation. We need to deepen our long-standing partnership,” Jaishankar said at a media interaction after the talks. He later posted a video of the interaction on Wednesday.
Ablakwa said Ghana’s Cabinet had approved a decision to seek membership of BRICS and that the country would now formally apply to join the grouping. He said the move was aimed at diversifying Ghana’s international partnerships and giving it more options in its development agenda, while making it clear that Accra would continue to value its existing relationships. “We want to have options. We are not going to walk away from our traditional partners. We value that relationship, but we must have new friends,” he said.
The Ghanaian minister said his country would now take the necessary steps to apply for membership and “seek the support” of BRICS members, noting that admission would need the approval of the grouping. He also identified India, Brazil and China as historical partners with which Ghana has significant trade and investment ties, and said Ghana’s trade with India had more than doubled from around USD 3 billion in 2024, with the aim of taking it to around USD 7 billion.
Jaishankar said the two countries had discussed pooling their development experience, noting that programmes in both countries deal with similar challenges in food security, healthcare, digitalisation and infrastructure. “So, given these similarities, given these patterns, I think it’s very natural for us as countries of the Global South to pool our experience, to see what we can do to support each other, to share with each other,” he said.
The two sides also signed agreements on agricultural research and training and on biodiversity. “Other than the two agreements we signed today on agricultural research and training and on biodiversity, we are looking at more cooperation, definitely in pharmaceuticals and health, in mining, in defence, in railways, in digital,” Jaishankar said.
India has been stepping up engagement with African countries through trade, investment, development partnerships and cooperation in areas ranging from technology to energy. The continent is important to India both as a growing economic and resource partner and as a key voice of the Global South. Ghana is particularly significant as it is set to assume the chairmanship of the African Union in 2027.
Earlier on Tuesday, in an address at Ghana’s Foreign Service Institute, Jaishankar spoke about India’s economic transformation in areas such as the economy, infrastructure, digital technology, manufacturing and entrepreneurship, and said these developments were making India a significant engine of global growth. He also underlined the role of an accessible digital ecosystem in democratising opportunities and said, “India stands ready to share its experiences with its African partners.” He highlighted the need for supply-chain resilience in fuel, food, fertiliser and finance, as well as the Global South’s right to industrialise.
Jaishankar said Indian businesses had been active in Ghana and pointed to recent investment commitments in pharmaceuticals and medical services, poultry and renewable energy. He said the partnership could help strengthen resilience, promote inclusion and ensure that economic growth delivers for people in a turbulent and complicated world.
The two ministers also discussed cooperation in multilateral forums, with Jaishankar saying India values Ghana’s role in the African Union and ECOWAS. Ghana is a founding member of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States, which works for economic, social and political integration across West Africa. Jaishankar said India and Ghana shared a similar outlook on reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council. “We feel that as Global South partners we should be working together strongly for the reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council,” he said, adding that the world was moving towards multipolarity and greater diversity and that countries such as India and Ghana should stand up as voices of independence and advocates of strategic autonomy.
The talks in Ghana centred on expanding the bilateral partnership into new sectors, sharing development experience, strengthening coordination on Global South issues and increasing engagement in multilateral forums, while Ghana also set out its plan to apply for BRICS membership.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
