Amid global tensions, PM Modi to seek mineral deals with Ghana & Namibia during his upcoming visit

ANI

New Delhi, June 30, 2025 (ANI): During a special briefing by the Ministry of External Affairs, Secretary of Economic Relations, Dammu Ravi, outlined the key agendas during the PM's visit to five countries- Ghana, Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina, Brazil and Namibia. The MEA Secretary highlighted the focus on vaccine development in Ghana. "Focus items of the visits will be agriculture, vaccine development, creating a vaccine hub in Ghana... Defence cooperation is also an agenda, along with discussion on critical minerals and Digital Public Infrastructure... MoUs will also be signed, with negotiations still underway on this."

Transcript

00:00Honourable Prime Minister, there will be delegation-level talks

00:03during which the bilateral relations will be reviewed

00:08and also discuss various ways to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations.

00:14Honourable Prime Minister will have a one-on-one meeting with his counterpart.

00:18Then there will be a banquet dinner in honour of Honourable Prime Minister.

00:23The next day, Prime Minister will be addressing the Parliament

00:27and he also will be interacting with the Indian community there,

00:31which is about 15,000 in number.

00:36Let me put this in the context.

00:41The President John Ramani Mahama has just assumed office

00:48in about January of this year after a landslide victory,

00:52which is why the visit assumes importance.

00:54Early in his tenure, Honourable Prime Minister will be visiting Ghana,

00:59so it will help in the continuity as well as deepening the relationship

01:04and to discuss various ways to further strengthen the relationship.

01:10President Mahama is no stranger.

01:13He has been to India in the past,

01:15particularly for the India-Africa Forum Summit in 2015,

01:18and there have been various occasions that two leaders have met in the past as well.

01:25India's relations with Ghana are historical.

01:28In the seven decades of a relationship, it has evolved to multifaceted.

01:33We took up the cause of Ghana in the UN,

01:39and we have maintained close relationship in the multilateral forum

01:51on various issues that are important for the Global South.

01:56Both the countries will work towards boosting the economic cooperation,

02:03and this is very important to note,

02:05that Ghana is undergoing a deep economic restructuring,

02:11especially it has undergone the IMF conditionalities almost 17 times.

02:17So the economic agenda will dominate the talks.

02:21You know, the bilateral trade between India and Ghana is about $3 billion.

02:27In favor of Ghana, because of the large imports of gold,

02:32our investments in Ghana are about $2 billion,

02:35both private sector-wise, which is about $1 billion.

02:39And the second half, we have lines of credit and the bias credit activities and projects have been undertaken.

02:48We have a very strong cooperation in the capacity building under ITEC,

02:53and that is continuing to be stronger and deepen.

02:59During the visit, there will be few focus items.

03:03It will be agriculture,

03:04where the Ghana leader, the president, is keen to engage with India.

03:10He is also keen on the vaccine development,

03:13creating a vaccine hub in Ghana,

03:15but not just Ghana, but also the West Africa context.

03:19Defense cooperation will become an important item on the agenda,

03:23and the critical minerals and the digital public infrastructure.

03:29A few MOUs, Memorandum of Understandings, are likely to be concluded,

03:36but we still do not have clarity as to which of those,

03:39but our understanding is that negotiations are still ongoing in Ghana with our team.

03:47We have most probably in the Joint Commission,

03:50which will be renewed,

03:52traditional medicine in Ayurveda,

03:54the CEP, Cultural Exchange Program,

03:59renewed,

04:00and standards,

04:02but we will get details closer to the visit

04:05when it is being fine-tuned.

04:08Thereafter, I am going to jump now

04:10to the last leg of UNRUAL Prime Minister's visit to Namibia,

04:14because that is another country that I deal with.

04:19UNRUAL Prime Minister will visit Namibia on 9th July,

04:23and this visit is also important.

04:26It is coming after 27 years.

04:30And the current president,

04:32who is Netumbu Nandi Ndwaita,

04:37has assumed office in March this year,

04:41which is why the visit happening so early in our tenure

04:44is very useful to renew the relationship

04:49and at the same time deepen our economic engagement with Namibia.

04:55The program will have a ceremonial welcome.

04:59UNRUAL Prime Minister will pay homage to Dr. Sam Najuma.

05:04There will be delegation-level talks,

05:06one-on-one discussions,

05:07and he will also address the parliament.

05:11The substance of the relationship is, again,

05:14as you know, that India and Namibia

05:16have been a very strong relationship for a very long time.

05:21Historical context, the independence struggle.

05:23We recognized Namibia long before it got independence.

05:28We took up its cause in the UNGA in 1946

05:33and also allowed to set up a diplomatic mission in India in 1986,

05:40even before it got independence in 1990.

05:44The bilateral relations are very wide-ranging.

05:48Let me focus on the trade here.

05:49It is 600 million, marginally in favor of India.

05:54Our investments are about 800 million,

05:57mostly in mineral resources like zinc and diamond processing.

06:03You all are aware that India

06:07had taken a few cheetahs from Namibia

06:14and relocated to Kuno National Park.

06:16That phase had very successfully been implemented.

06:22In the development cooperation area,

06:25the capacity building,

06:27defense cooperation,

06:28defense training of the personnel of Namibia,

06:31the Center for Excellence of the Information Technology

06:34that we have set it up.

06:35Then, most importantly,

06:37what's going to happen during the visit

06:38is the unified payment interoperability.

06:43The technology agreement being signed

06:45has already been entered

06:47between the Central Bank of Namibia

06:48and the NPCI.

06:51So, this will take forward

06:52and that, we believe,

06:53is a very important development in our relationship.

06:57Namibia is a very resource-rich country.

07:01It has natural resources of uranium,

07:04copper, cobalt,

07:06rare eggs in large numbers,

07:07lithium, graphite, cantalum,

07:09and all of these are of interest to us.

07:12In the recent times,

07:13Namibia has also discovered new oil fields.

07:15There, again,

07:16going to be a broad understanding

07:17on the partnership in hydrocarbons.

07:20Namibia is also keen

07:22to engage with us in agriculture and pharma,

07:25and we will be exploring

07:27India's low-cost solutions

07:29like the DPI,

07:30Jannaushidhi,

07:31traditional medicine,

07:32Ayurveda.

07:32You have to understand

07:33in a broader context

07:35how important it is partnering Africa.

07:38We have done the India-Africa Forum Summit 3

07:40in 2015.

07:42We will be very soon doing

07:43India-Africa Forum Summit 4.

07:46And in that context,

07:48engaging with Africa

07:49with both individual countries

07:50and the EU

07:51are very important.

07:53Africa in recent time

07:54has also evolved.

07:55It's become more aspirational.

07:57It wants manufacturing

07:58to happen in the country,

07:59and it wants value addition

08:01to happen in the country.

08:03The Africa-wide free trade continent

08:04is another great opportunity

08:06to engage with Africa.

08:07So we have to keep this

08:08at the back of our mind

08:09dealing with Africa.

08:11There are lots of opportunities

08:12and we need to look at this

08:15with more keenness.

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