Ghana’s decision to pursue membership of BRICS is aimed at opening up new trade, investment and development opportunities, Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said.
Speaking in Accra on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, Mr Ablakwa said BRICS would give Ghana more options in pursuing its economic development agenda without abandoning its traditional international partners.
“BRICS offers us that opportunity to have options in development agenda, you want to have options,” he said.
He explained that Ghana valued its existing relationships with Western countries and international financial institutions but needed to broaden its network of strategic partners.
“We value that relationship, but we must have new friends,” Mr Ablakwa said, adding that countries such as India, Brazil and China already have significant trade and investment interests in Ghana.
He disclosed that trade between Ghana and India had increased from about $3 billion in 2024 to approximately $7 billion currently.
China, he added, remained another major economic player in Ghana, making deeper engagement with BRICS countries potentially beneficial to the government’s economic transformation agenda.
Mr Ablakwa said Ghana’s objective was not merely to achieve economic stability but to build an economy capable of generating sustainable growth, creating jobs and supporting industrialisation.
“We want an economic growth which is sustainable, which creates jobs, which industrializes our country,” he said.
He also linked Ghana’s BRICS ambitions to the government’s policy of resource sovereignty.
According to him, Ghana wants to move away from exporting raw materials and instead develop greater capacity to add value to its natural resources.
“We want to add value to the natural resources that we have, and we want to work with partners who have the same shared history and shared commitments,” he said.
Mr Ablakwa argued that increased competition among international partners could strengthen Ghana’s bargaining position and support the country’s pursuit of a multipolar global economic order.
He stressed that Ghana would remain a member of the Bretton Woods institutions and continue working with African financial institutions.
The minister said Ghana’s approach was therefore one of diversification rather than withdrawal from existing partnerships.
