Ghana and Qatar have signed and ratified a bilateral labour mobility agreement that will create more employment opportunities for Ghanaians in Qatar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has announced.
The agreement allows both governments to jointly oversee the recruitment of Ghanaian workers for critical sectors in Qatar, including hospitality, transport and health. Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of the Doha Forum yesterday (Sunday, December 7, 2025), Mr Ablakwa said the pact is designed to boost job creation while ensuring that Ghanaians working in Qatar receive improved treatment and better working conditions.
“Ghanaian workers are going to be earning more because of this. It will deal with issues of exploitation, abuse and human rights violations, which have sometimes been reported, particularly from the Gulf region, even though, to be fair to the State of Qatar, we haven't had a lot of negative reports from the State of Qatar as compared to others,” he said.
“This agreement has safeguards where the workers will have insurance, medical allowance, accommodation and other allowances to make sure that their rights and their welfare are all well catered for and protected.”
He added that the government has identified licensed recruitment agencies to handle the process in order to safeguard the rights and welfare of beneficiaries.
Increased quota for Ghana
Mr Ablakwa disclosed that the Qatari government has agreed to increase the quota for Ghanaian workers, enabling more citizens to secure employment there. This is expected to raise the number of Ghanaian workers, currently about 13,000, and position Ghana to compete with Kenya’s 77,000 and Uganda’s 40,000 workers in Qatar.
He further revealed that Ghana has formally submitted a bid to host the West African Centre for the Recruitment of Workers into Qatar.
As part of the agreement, a joint technical committee will be established to supervise its implementation and ensure full compliance with the provisions of the ratified pact. Ghana has been selected to host the committee’s first meeting in February next year.
The Minister added that the government is working to secure more such agreements, having already negotiated labour mobility arrangements with Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, with ongoing negotiations involving Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Opportunity
Mr Ablakwa stressed that labour mobility presents an opportunity to tackle unemployment, while providing young Ghanaians with international exposure and the ability to build financial stability through remittances.
“This is a short-term agreement. You can work for three or four years and then return to Ghana with more resources to start your own business. So, this is not brain drain; it is brain gain.
“Other countries like Cuba, the Philippines, Thailand and others have done this so well, and it has helped their economy. We must also take full advantage of this opportunity,” he added.
The Minister said the labour mobility agreements signed this year form part of the government’s broader vision to complement key interventions such as the 24-hour economy initiative, the Big Push Agenda, the Feed Ghana Programme and the National Apprenticeship Programme in addressing unemployment.
