Government will roll out an Electronic Visa policy in the first quarter of next year, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has announced.

“I am delighted to announce to you that this government, under strict instruction of President John Dramani Mahama, will be rolling out an e visa policy in the first quarter of next year, 2026,” he said.

Mr Ablakwa was speaking at the closing session of the maiden Diaspora Summit held in Accra on Saturday, December 20, 2025.

The Minister stated that the e-visa policy would include a special dispensation for members of the African diaspora, who would be able to apply at a reduced cost.

“We have discussed at management and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that we are going to have a special dispensation for Africans in the diaspora so that you will not have to make the same payments as others will make, and you can travel to the motherland easily, smoothly and more conveniently,” he said.

Mr Ablakwa said the policy would also introduce a reciprocal approach to visa application fees based on country specific arrangements.

“In our discussion, we are going to make sure that there will be a certain reciprocity when it comes to those visa payments based on countries.

“How much we pay when we want to go into their country, we will make sure we are all paying the same in the spirit of reciprocity; so, we can all raise the funds that we need to develop our country,” he added.

Restoring Ghana Airways

The Foreign Affairs Minister also hinted at an imminent return of Ghana Airways, the former national carrier.

He said President Mahama had directed that efforts be accelerated to bring the airline back into operation, adding that a technical committee established by the President was close to completing its work.

“Imagine if all the tickets of those who flew into the country was on Ghana Airways, that money would have been an investment in the Ghanaian economy and not in the other countries, largely in post apocalyptic Europe, where those ticket resources are going to,” he said.

Mr Ablakwa said if the country had its own airline, the government could have extended discounted airfares to participants of the Diaspora Summit as part of a visa free arrangement.

He added that the return of Ghana Airways would signal national pride and the restoration of Ghana’s image, echoing the words of Dr Kwame Nkrumah that the “Black Man is capable of managing its own affairs”.

24 Hour Economy

The Presidential Advisor on the 24 Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development, Mr Augustus Goosie Obuadum Tanoh, said the government’s 24 Hour Economy programme presented multiple investment opportunities for members of the diaspora.

He said diaspora investment, combined with government intervention, would help address structural weaknesses within the economy.

According to him, the programme would organise production around integrated value chains in strategic sectors, linking agriculture to processing through agro-industrial partnerships supported by logistics hubs, reliable energy and export platforms.

Mr Tanoh said many productive assets including factories, warehouses, ports, hospitals, banks and markets were operating below capacity due to fragmented and inefficient systems that created bottlenecks between production, processing, logistics and markets.

He said the new policy would address those gaps by ensuring that services such as health, finance and growth industries operated efficiently across time, in recognition of the fact that global markets function continuously and that value chains were increasingly time sensitive.