Czech-Ghana Relations
Ghana and the Czech Republic have a long-standing relationship. When Ghana was still a British colony, Czechoslovakia exported textiles, glass, musical instruments and matches to the Gold Coast. Mutual Czechoslovak-Ghanaian relations started to develop actively immediately after the declaration of independence of Ghana in 1957, and diplomatic relations were established in October 1959.
The Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah met Antonin Novotny, the President of Czechoslovakia, during the UN General Assembly in September 1960 to discuss opportunities for mutual cooperation.
The same year, an Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Czechoslovakia and Ghana was signed. Czechoslovak experts were sent to Ghana to support industrialization efforts. They helped build and run factories, lecturers were sent to young universities and Ghanaian students received opportunities for training in the Czech Republic in medicine, engineering, agriculture, architecture and mining.
The founder and first President of modern Ghana, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, visited Czechoslovakia in 1961 and his visit was reciprocated the following year by President Antonin Novotny. Their meetings strengthened friendly relations and economic cooperation between the two countries.
Relations between Ghana and Czechoslovakia grew quickly in the early 1960s, when Prague extended a five-million-pound loan to help finance the construction of a sugar mill, two shoe factories, a ceramic plant, tanning and plywood factories, a 200-bed hospital and equipment for four hydroelectric power plants.
Trade links were also strong through barter arrangements. Ghanaian raw materials were exchanged for manufactured goods, and bilateral trade amounted to one hundred million crowns in 1963. Diplomatic and trade relations led to factories such as the GIHOC Jute Factory, Komenda Sugar Factory, Aboso Glass Factory, Bonsu Tyres and Kumasi Shoe Factory.
After Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, Czech presence in Africa declined sharply and bilateral trade also fell. Relations were revived in the early 1990s and a Trade Agreement to promote, facilitate and develop economic cooperation has been in place since 1996.
On 9 November 2010, the Czech Republic and Ghana met at a trade and investment forum aimed at reviving business ties. In recent years Ghana has remained one of the Czech Republic’s most important trade partners in sub-Saharan Africa, and Czech products continue to enjoy a very good reputation in Ghana.
Current opportunities for cooperation include energy projects, sewage treatment, water purification, urban planning, construction, tourism and other joint ventures between Ghanaian and Czech entrepreneurs.