Ghana opens up visa-free journey to all Africans
All African passport holders will now capable of go to Ghana while not having a visa, outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo has mentioned.
Akufo-Addo introduced the plan final month however in his closing state-of-the-nation tackle on Friday he mentioned that the coverage had come into impact firstly of the 12 months.
Visa-free journey throughout the continent has lengthy been an aspiration for these selling pan-African values and is seen as important for financial cooperation.
Ghana is now the fifth African nation to supply this to travellers from the remainder of the continent.
Rwanda, Seychelles, The Gambia and Benin are the others.
“I am proud to have approved visa-free travel to Ghana for all African passport holders, with effect from the beginning of this year,” Akufo-Addo advised lawmakers in his final tackle to parliament earlier than he steps down subsequent week after eight years in workplace.
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“This is the logical next step to the African Continental Free Trade Area and the workings of the largest trading bloc in the world,” he mentioned referring to the zone that got here into impact 4 years in the past.
In an annual African rating of visa-openness, Ghana was positioned fifth final 12 months because it already supplied visa-free journey to residents of 26 continental nations.
Ghana lately has been selling itself as a vacation spot for folks from the continent and the African diaspora to go to. In 2019, Akufo-Addo launched the Year of Return – an initiative to encourage these with African roots to put money into the nation.
The president used his final state-of-the-nation speech to assessment his two phrases in energy.
Despite him overseeing robust financial instances for many Ghanaians, he mentioned that “growth has returned to the pre-Covid trajectory” including that he leaves behind a rustic “that is thriving”.
Having served two phrases already, Akufo-Addo was unable to run for re-election final month. But the person his occasion selected to succeed him, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, misplaced by a big margin to John Mahama.
