New Delhi: India and Ghana signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between the Zoological Survey of India and the University of Ghana on research and training and another between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Ghana’s CSIR-Crops Research Institute during External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar’s visit to Accra, earlier this week. Both nations are also holding negotiations on cooperation in local pharmaceutical, vaccine production, health, mining, defence, railways and digital public infrastructure sectors, a report has highlighted.
During his visit, EAM Jaishankar met his counterpart from Ghana, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and also called on President John Dramani Mahama. Ghana was the first stop of EAM Jaishankar’s three-nation visit.
During the meeting, EAM Jaishankar and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa discussed key strategies for advancing the comprehensive partnership between India and Ghana. The two ministers also spoke about advancing multilateral cooperation and deepening India’s engagement 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 agreement signed between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Ghana’s Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI) aims to promote joint research, technology transfer, capacity building and commercialisation of agricultural innovations, reinforcing India’s commitment to South-South and India-Africa collaboration.
The MoU was signed in the presence of EAM Jaishankar and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. The five-year agreement establishes a framework for closer collaboration in agricultural science, education and technological exchange between the two countries.
As part of the partnership, the institutions will undertake joint research projects, facilitate the exchange of scientists and technical experts, and share scientific information, research methodologies and breeding materials. The collaboration will also encourage institutional linkages between agricultural research centres in India and Ghana to promote long-term scientific engagement.
“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.
(IANS)
