The European Union says it is focused on supporting large investments that will bring about economic development in order to create more jobs in Ghana and the entire West Africa sub-region.

As part of the programming of the new European Union Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) 2021-2027, the European Union, the African Union (AU) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) of Sub-Saharan Africa set up in November 2020 a dialogue platform to strengthen communication and consultation between stakeholders.

In order to capitalise on these achievements in the programming and implementation of the NDICI, the Presidents of the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions, contrary to the bilateral initiatives underway in the other RECs, wished to maintain this unique framework of tripartite dialogue which has proven its effectiveness in the context of the implementation of the Regional Indicative Programmes (RIPs) financed by the European Development Fund (EDF). This proposal was welcomed by the European Union.

The first two meetings of this mechanism were held in November 2021 and June 2023 respectively in Accra, Ghana. These meetings were attended by experts from the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions in charge of regional development programmes in the priority areas of the NDICI and representatives of the European Union delegations in Burkina Faso and Nigeria.

Speaking to JoyNews at the third round of Tripartite engagements in Accra from March 4-8, 2024, the Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Ghana, Massimo Mina, noted that “This is very important for the neighbours and also important in Ghana where we have a very strong focus on supporting large investments which can make structural changes that can be impactful in particular to support the key problem that we have not only in Ghana but more generally in the region, which is job creation. So, through these instruments we can find the necessary resources to support the job creation and also green transition.”