Ablakwa: Ghana open to doing business with Serbia, we want more Serbian companies

ACCRA - Ghanaian FM Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on Thursday his country was open to doing business with Serbia, and urged Serbian companies to invest in Ghana.

At a press conference with Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric in Accra, Ablakwa said his government wanted more Serbian companies and investors to come to Ghana and take full advantage of the hospitality and opportunities the country was offering.

He said Djuric's official visit represented "a significant milestone in the evolving relationship between Ghana and Serbia."

"It reflects a renewed commitment from both sides to deepen cooperation and strengthen the bonds of friendship as we embark on a new chapter in our time-honoured and historic partnership," he said.

Ablakwa noted that the ties between the two countries dated back to the era of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned Movement.

"We further discussed the need to expand the frontiers of our relations and cooperation - both at bilateral and multilateral level. At the bilateral level, we noted the potential for increased trade and economic cooperation, and urged the private sectors of our two countries to explore possible avenues for cooperation in various sectors of both economies. We acknowledged that trade and investment activities between the two countries are unimpressive," he said.

"In that regard, I noted the potential of the African market of about 1.4 billion African people, which affords us to fully take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement," Ablakwa added.

He said the two sides had agreed that, due its aging population, Serbia would need a labour mobility agreement, "taking full advantage of Ghana's very young population, with a median age of 20."

"The Honourable Foreign Minister has indicated that, this year, Serbia plans to grant 100,000 work permits, and Ghana has expressed interest in taking full advantage of that, so that we can have thousands of our young people work in Serbia," Ablakwa said, noting that Ghana was keen to become the second country to sign a labour mobility agreement with Serbia after Egypt.

"At the multilateral level, we have also noted our strong belief in the UN Charter. We will continue to be non-aligned, we will continue to be countries that promote peace, we will continue to be top UN troop-contributing nations so that we help to bring peace in various theatres of conflict across the world," Ablakwa said.

He noted that Ghana, like Serbia, had found lithium deposits in its territory and that an agreement had been made to exchange knowledge and expertise in that field.

He also said Ghana was determined to deepen cooperation with Serbia in development of artificial intelligence.

Ablakwa said opportunities for defence and security cooperation with Serbia had been discussed as well to enable Ghana's armed forces to "withstand the threat of terrorism" coming from the Sahel region.