Ghana and Serbia are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on labour mobility, allowing Ghanaian workers to tap into Serbia’s 100,000 work permit initiative this year, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said.
He indicated that the agreement, which aimed to deepen people-to-people engagements and create economic opportunities, was expected to benefit thousands of Ghanaian youths across various sectors of the economy.
Mr Okudzeto expressed interest in ensuring that the country took full advantage of Serbia’s work permit programme as the second African country to have benefited from the programme after Serbia signed a similar labour mobility agreement with Egypt.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was speaking to the media in Accra yesterday after a closed-door meeting with his counterpart from Serbia, Marko Đurić, who is on a three-day working visit to the country.
Strengthening bilateral relations
Mr Okudzeto, said the two countries through several agreements, were strengthening their bilateral relations focusing on lithium exploration, artificial intelligence, maritime security and defence cooperation.
He revealed that Ghana and Serbia had agreed to share technical expertise in lithium exploration.
“Serbia has 11 per cent of the world’s lithium deposits, and we have agreed on technical expertise sharing of knowledge so that we can work together on how we explore those lithium potentials,” he said.
Mr Okudzeto stated that the two countries would deepen their collaboration in artificial intelligence, with Serbia currently chairing the Global AI Initiative. This partnership, he said, also aligned with the government’s One Million Coders Programme and the One Billion Dollar Innovation Hub Initiative.
He added that the two countries had also discussed defence cooperation to strengthen defence ties between the two nations and also equip the Ghana Armed Forces to withstand the threat of terrorism that posed from the Sahel.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also stated that the country would be offering some scholarship opportunities to Serbians to take up some courses, including African Sociology and African Studies at the University of Ghana.
He commended the government of Serbia for supporting Ghana’s maritime sector through the ongoing collaboration between the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) and Vlatacom Research and Development Institute of Serbia for the major upgrade of Ghana’s existing Vessel Traffic Management and Information System.
The new infrastructure, he said, when fully deployed would extend the reach of the Over the Horizon (OTH) Surveillance Technology along Ghana’s coastline significantly.
Opportunities
For his part, the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marko Đurić, expressed optimism about the great opportunities to be exploited mutually by both nations.
He described the government’s 24-hour economy idea as an inspiring one which offered opportunities for Serbian and other businesses from Europe to connect with Ghanaian businesses.
Mr Đurić said the Serbian government “see Ghana as a key regional ally and partner, deeply rooted in historic friendship, but oriented towards contemporary and future cooperation”.
The Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister emphasised that his government also intended to extend its cooperation to agriculture, sports and defence, adding that he would meet with all the sector ministers during his three-day visit to Ghana.
He said that his government had offered 51 scholarships to Ghanaian students to further their studies in various fields in Serbia, and announced that 30 more scholarship slots would be awarded to Ghanaian students this year as part of the bilateral relations with Ghana.
