Modi Leads Push to Secure Critical Mineral Sources

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ghanaian President John Mahama agreed on Thursday in Accra to double bilateral trade between India and Ghana to $6 billion over the next five years.

- ARCHIS MOHAN

Officials indicated that a significant portion of the increase would come from India's imports of Ghanaian critical minerals.

India is one of Ghana's leading trading partners. Known as the Gold Coast until independence in 1957, Ghana boasts significant gold reserves and other mineral wealth. It maintains a surplus trade balance with India, largely due to the latter's substantial gold imports, which account for more than 70 per cent of total imports from the West African nation.

Modi and Mahama stressed the need for diversifying the trade basket between their countries.

In the first visit to Ghana by an Indian prime minister in three decades, Modi pledged support for the country's agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors. "The leaders discussed several other areas of cooperation, but I think I would like to underline here very importantly the idea of cooperation in the area of critical minerals," said Dammu Ravi, secretary (economic relations) in India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), speaking in Accra.