{"id":114328,"date":"2026-02-06T11:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=114328"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:06:13","slug":"mahama-urges-ghana-and-zambia-to-transform-historic-ties-into-trade-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=114328","title":{"rendered":"Mahama urges Ghana and Zambia to transform historic ties into trade deals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President John Mahama has called on Ghana and Zambia to move beyond long-standing political friendship and translate it into stronger trade and investment partnerships.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the ongoing Ghana\u2013Zambia Business Dialogue in Lusaka, President Mahama said the two countries share a deep historical bond rooted in their liberation struggles and commitment to democracy, peace, and political stability.<\/p>\n

He noted that Ghana and Zambia have \u201cwalked parallel paths\u201d in their pursuit of freedom and development, standing together as champions of pan-Africanism and African self-determination.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet, despite this strong historical bond and shared vision, trade and investment between our two countries remain far below their true potential,\u201d he said, adding that the gap presents both a challenge and an opportunity.<\/p>\n

Against the backdrop of growing global trade fragmentation and protectionism, President Mahama urged African countries to look inward and strengthen economic cooperation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when global trade is increasingly fragmented and protectionist tendencies are on the rise, Africa must turn inward with purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a historic opportunity to deepen intra-African trade, build regional value chains, and strengthen economic resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe African Continental Free Trade Area offers us a historic opportunity to deepen intra-African trade, build regional value chains and strengthening our collective economic resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis business dialogue is not a ceremonial event. It is a strategic platform to convert political goodwill into concrete commercial partnerships,\u201d he added, emphasising the goal of moving Ghana\u2013Zambia relations \u201cfrom diplomacy to deal-making and from solidarity to shared prosperity\u201d.<\/p>\n

President Mahama also welcomed recent agreements signed during his state visit, including a visa waiver allowing Zambians and Ghanaians to travel visa-free, as well as a bilateral air services agreement to allow direct flights between the two countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m encouraged by the agreements we have signed during this state visit, which include the visa waiver allowing Zambians and Ghanaians to travel visa-free to our counterpart countries, and the bilateral air services agreements, which would allow direct flights between Zambia and Ghana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to him, these measures will improve connectivity, reduce transaction costs, and facilitate the movement of goods, capital, and people between Ghana and Zambia.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this will improve connectivity between our people, reduce transaction costs, and facilitate the movement of goods and capital between our countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged both countries\u2019 trade ministries to act quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge our ministries of trade to move swiftly to operationalise the trade and industry cooperation framework and to support the newly established Ghana-Zambia Business Council,\u201d the President added.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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President John Mahama has called on Ghana and Zambia to move beyond long-standing political friendship and translate it into stronger trade and investment partnerships.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16500,1883,10,9,1155,16501],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ghana-and-zambia","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-president-john-mahama","category-trade-deals"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}