Ghana and Gabon have jointly identified 12 critical sectors for cooperation as part of their bilateral relationship.
The two countries started with the signing of two Memoranda of Understanding as part of bold steps to transform decades of diplomatic ties into concrete economic partnerships on the first day of a three-day state visit.
The first agreement establishes a framework for political consultations between the foreign ministries of both countries, and the second paves the way for cooperation in the training of diplomats between Ghana's Foreign Service Institute and Gabon's Institute of Diplomatic Studies.
The agreements were signed in Accra yesterday at the start of a three-day official visit of President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema of Gabon and his entourage.
President John Dramani Mahama received the Gabonese leader at Accra International Airport with full military honours and a guard of honour mounted by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
Right after his arrival, President Nguema proceeded to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park to pay tribute to Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah, to lay a wreath before heading to the Jubilee House for bilateral talks.
Before a tête-à-tête and bilateral discussions between the two leaders, their Foreign Affairs Ministers, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and his Gabonese counterpart, Marie-Edith Tassyla-Ye-Doumbeneny, signed the agreements.
Presidents Mahama and Nguema during the tête-à-tête reviewed the state of the relations between the two countries, and agreed to intensify engagement to convert political goodwill into tangible economic cooperation.
Moving beyond the MoU, the two leaders directed their respective ministries to develop comprehensive cooperation frameworks across 12 critical sectors.
These include trade and investment; mining and mineral value addition; oil, gas and energy; agriculture and agribusiness; fisheries and aquaculture, forestry and climate change.
The rest are maritime affairs and the blue economy; education; digital transformation; health; tourism, defence and security.
On mining, both countries will exchange expertise on responsible mining, mineral governance and value addition, an area covering Ghana's gold resources and Gabon's vast manganese deposits.
On climate, the leaders noted Gabon's global leadership in rainforest conservation alongside Ghana's climate-resilience efforts, establishing a basis for cooperation on carbon markets and nature-based solutions.
AfCFTA and Continental Unity
Addressing the audience at the presidency after the talks, President Mahama and President Nguema reaffirmed their strong commitment to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose Secretariat is hosted in Accra, and to the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. They also issued a joint call for African communities to collectively confront xenophobic attacks and discrimination across the continent.
Bilateral talks
At the bilateral meeting, President Mahama commended Gabon's consistent support for Ghana at the United Nations General Assembly, and proposed deeper collaboration in agribusiness, fisheries, mining and climate finance.
Nguema, who arrived with a high-level delegation of ministers and senior officials, praised Ghana's mining sector reforms and cocoa processing drive.
He thanked Ghana for its solidarity during Gabon's transitional period and formally sought the country’s backing for Gabon's bid to host the next African Union Summit.
Symbolic gestures
In a symbolic gesture of unity, President Nguema participated in a tree-planting ceremony at the Jubilee House, underscoring both nations' commitment to environmental sustainability.
Reciprocal Visit
President Nguema extended an invitation to President Mahama to pay an official visit to Gabon at a mutually convenient date – an invitation President Mahama accepted.
The proposed visit would be a reciprocal engagement following President Mahama's earlier trip to the Gabonese capital, Libreville.
President Nguema's visit, from yesterday to tomorrow, is his first official visit to Ghana since assuming the presidency on May 3, last year.
It builds on more than six decades of diplomatic relations between Accra and Libreville, and is described by the Ghanaian presidency as another milestone in the two countries' growing bilateral ties.
