Specific Broad Sector Activities of the Ministry

International Relations for Development
(Under Ghana’s Shared Growth and Development Agenda 2014-2017)

The current foreign policy goal of Government is to achieve good neighbourliness and pursue economic diplomacy. To this end the policy interventions to be implemented over the medium- term is aimed at achieving the following broad objectives: accelerate economic and social integration with regional and sub-regional states; promote international peace and sustainable development; and leverage the economic and technological opportunities for sustainable development.

Accelerate economic and social integration with regional and sub-regional states:

The main issue identified under this policy objective is bottlenecks in the free movement of goods and services among ECOWAS member states. To address the issue and accelerate economic and social integration efforts will be made at: establishing a common customs union; ensuring that national trade policies incorporate ECOWAS protocols, WTO and ACP/EU accords; and strengthening links between industrial and trade policies.

Promote international peace and sustainable development:

Issues identified under this objective are: threats to international peace and security as well as low compliance with international protocols and conventions. Strategies identified to address these issues are: review international obligations and domesticate all ratified international treaties; strengthen sub- regional, regional and global collaboration for the promotion of international peace, security and sustainable development; act in concert with other countries to address threats to international peace and security; and strengthen Ghana’s bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.

Leverage economic and technological opportunities for sustainable development:

The low utilisation of opportunities to promote Ghana’s interests abroad has been identified as the main issue under the focus area. The strategies to be pursued to address this issue are: leverage economic and technological opportunities for sustainable development; leverage Ghana’s democratic and governance credentials to promote its political and economic interests abroad; review diplomatic representation and alignments in pursuit of Ghana’s national interests; and strengthen Ghana’s bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.