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President John Dramani Mahama commissioned four new envoys at the Jubilee House in Accra on October 16, 2026, and specifically charged the Ambassador-designate to Qatar, Louis Kwame Obeng, with converting existing goodwill between the two nations into concrete partnerships. The President said relations with Qatar presented considerable scope for closer work on investment, trade, tourism and broader development goals that align with Ghana’s priorities. He urged Obeng to focus on high-level engagements that had already built positive momentum and to channel them toward measurable outcomes for Ghanaian businesses and workers, the Ghana News Agency reported.
Mahama emphasised that the Ambassador must prioritise the effective rollout of the labour mobility agreement ratified by both countries in late 2025 and early 2026. The pact establishes structured recruitment, skills development and employment pathways while requiring safeguards for the rights, welfare and working conditions of Ghanaians employed in Qatar. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, approximately 13,000 Ghanaians currently work in the Gulf state, with targets set to double that number within a year and reach 50,000 in the medium term across sectors including health, tourism, information technology, logistics and aviation.
The President instructed Obeng to maintain regular contact with the Ghanaian community in Qatar and to raise any concerns about their treatment promptly with Qatari authorities. He noted that employment opportunities must always be paired with protections to prevent exploitation and ensure decent conditions. A report from the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation indicated that the first meeting of the joint technical committee to oversee the agreement’s implementation is scheduled for Ghana in February 2026.
Obeng was further directed to advance bilateral cooperation in skills development and to pursue outstanding instruments, including the Joint Committee on Manpower Regulation and the Memorandum of Understanding on Military Cooperation. The President said these agreements offered additional avenues to strengthen ties beyond labour mobility. In the same ceremony, Mahama commissioned Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo as Ambassador to Angola, Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable as Ambassador to Israel and Jedidiah Reuben Adogla as Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, each with mandates focused on economic diplomacy.
The commissioning forms part of the government’s broader Reset Agenda that measures diplomatic success by investment inflows, job creation and technology transfer rather than protocol alone. President Mahama told the envoys that missions must identify investors aligned with national development needs and help Ghanaian enterprises access foreign markets. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described the Qatar labour pact as a model for transparent recruitment free from irregular channels that previously exposed workers to risks.
Earlier engagements between the two countries, including ministerial visits in 2025, laid the groundwork for the current labour framework by highlighting mutual interest in professional mobility. The agreement followed parliamentary ratification in Ghana after Qatar had already approved the text, creating a joint oversight body to monitor compliance. Obeng’s appointment comes as Ghana prepares to assume the African Union chairmanship in 2027 and seeks diversified partnerships that support its 24-hour economy policy and infrastructure programmes.
