Finance
India and Ghana established two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) amid External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar’s trip to Accra earlier this week: one between the Zoological Survey of India and the University of Ghana regarding research and training, and another between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Ghana’s CSIR-Crops Research Institute. Negotiations on collaboration in local pharmaceutical, vaccine production, health, mining, defense, railways, and digital public infrastructure sectors are also being conducted by both nations, a report has emphasized.
While visiting, EAM Jaishankar met with his Ghanaian counterpart, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and also paid a visit to President John Dramani Mahama. EAM Jaishankar‘s three-nation trip commenced in Ghana.
In the meeting, EAM Jaishankar and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa talked about essential strategies for enhancing the extensive partnership between India and Ghana. The two ministers discussed enhancing multilateral collaboration and strengthening India’s ties with the African Union and ECOWAS.
“… Ties were raised to a Comprehensive Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s State Visit in July 2025, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in more than three decades. Jaishankar was explicit that his job was to live up to that elevation,” Zuri Amondi, a freelance journalist based in Nairobi, wrote in India Narrative.
The pact established between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Ghana’s Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI) seeks to enhance collaborative research, technology exchange, skill development, and the commercialization of agricultural innovations, strengthening India’s dedication to South-South and India-Africa partnerships.
The MoU was signed with EAM Jaishankar and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa present. The five-year pact creates a structure for enhanced cooperation in agricultural science, education, and technology sharing between the two nations.
In this partnership, the organizations will conduct collaborative research projects, promote the exchange of scientists and technical specialists, and disseminate scientific data, research methods, and breeding resources. The partnership will also foster connections between agricultural research institutions in India and Ghana to support sustained scientific collaboration.
“The test, for Ghana and for the rest of us, is whether the new sectors survive the communique. Local pharma only matters if technology and regulatory capacity stay in Accra. Rail only matters if it moves goods to ports and markets, not merely dignitaries. A BRICS application only matters if it buys financing and voice without a new set of conditions. Jaishankar told his Ghanaian audience that India carries Africa in its heart and intends a partnership for generations. Hearts are cheap. Generations are not,” Zuri Amondi wrote in India Narrative.
Amondi mentioned that Ghana’s formal bid to join BRICS is the practical sequel to the argument that India has been making about Africa’s place in the world. During its G20 presidency in 2023, India had pushed for African Union’s membership in the G20.
“If the MoUs on crops and biodiversity are followed by plants that make medicines, lines that carry freight, and a digital stack Ghana actually owns, Accra this week will have been the start of something that outlasts both governments. That is the standard Africa should now apply — to India, and to everyone else at the door,” Amondi added.
Source: IANS
