Ghana and South Korea sign visa waiver agreement for holders of Diplomatic and Service Passports

Ghana and South Korea have signed a historic Visa Waiver Agreement for holders of Diplomatic and Service Passports.

This was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on Monday, June 1.

In a post on his X page, he said that negotiations will continue to bring on board holders of Ordinary Passports.

This is the first Visa Waiver Agreement by our two nations in almost 50 years of formal bilateral relations, he said.

South Korean Foreign Minister H.E. Cho Hyun and I signed the agreement in the margins of the ongoing Africa-Korea Foreign Ministers Meeting.

“I am delighted we are delivering on key priorities following the working visit of President Mahama to South Korea in March this year. For God and Country,” Mr Ablakwa wrote.

In another development, Mr Ablakwa said it has been most impactful in reviving Ghana’s Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation (PJCC) with Jamaica after a long 21-year hiatus.

He commended his counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, Senator the Honourable Kamina Johnson Smith, for leading such an “impressive” delegation of ministers and high-level officials to Accra.

Mr Ablakwa conveyed heartfelt congratulations to Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith for serving as Foreign Minister for ten years.

“She has been exceptionally successful in her role as Jamaica’s first female Foreign Minister and currently as the longest-serving female Foreign Minister in the world. May I add that I am truly humbled and touched by her very kind remarks and positive appraisal about me during her historic visit to Ghana,” Mr Ablakwa wrote on X.

He further stated that a key outcome of the PJCC was the agreement they signed, which will ensure some 400 Ghanaian nurses are sent to Jamaica to boost health delivery in the friendly nation.

“We also signed additional agreements for defence cooperation and tourism,” he said.

He added that “Ghana and Jamaica have also agreed to complete ongoing negotiations to send Ghanaian teachers to Jamaica by August this year. We must all be proud to see how Ghanaian professionals are in high demand all over the world.”

He also took the opportunity to celebrate Jamaica for its “unwavering” support during the adoption of the Ghana-led UN resolution declaring the transatlantic enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity.

Jamaica renewed their appreciation of Ghana’s humanitarian support when we sent our gallant soldiers and donated relief items in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, he said.

“It is worthy of note that the Jamaican Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Andrew Holness has extended a special invitation to President John Mahama to serve as guest of honour at this year’s Jamaican National Day celebrations.

“I am deeply elated and inspired by the renewed enthusiasm in our ancestral Ghana-Jamaica relations,” he said.

Source:Fiilafmonline/3News