Bilateral Air, Double Taxation Agreements Signed during Ghana President's Luxembourg Visit

On Monday 13 December 2021, the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, accompanied by Ghana's Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, and Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, undertook a working visit to Luxembourg.

In the early morning, the Ghanaian President was received in audience by His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxembourg at the Grand Ducal Palace.

This was followed by three working meetings at Hôtel Saint-Maximin, the headquarters of Luxembourg's Ministry of State. Luxembourg's Prime Minister and Minister of State, Xavier Bettel, received President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, whilst Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility and Public Works, François Bausch, and Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna, met with their respective Ghanaian counterparts.

The meeting between Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo notably provided an update on bilateral relations, the political, economic and social situation in Ghana, as well as the regional situation in West Africa. The Ghanaian President's visit was also the opportunity to sign two agreements aimed at deepening bilateral relations. Luxembourg's Prime Minister commented: “The signing today of an Air Agreement and a Double Taxation Agreement by our ministers testifies to our common will to strengthen our economic and financial ties".

More specifically, during the meeting between Luxembourg's Minister of Mobility and Public Works, François Bausch, and Ghana's Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori-Asiamah, the Grand Duchy and Ghana signed an agreement relating to air services. This agreement is aimed at guaranteeing the future prospects both of national airlines through the granting of a maximum of traffic rights and of Luxembourg Airport as an international platform for freight and passenger traffic. The air agreement and resulting mutual traffic rights will establish a regulatory framework conducive to the development of economic and trade relations between the two countries.

Moreover, Finance Ministers Pierre Gramegna and Ken Ofori-Atta signed the first convention between Luxembourg and Ghana for the elimination of double taxation with regard to taxes on income and wealth and for the prevention of tax evasion and fraud. The objective of this tax convention is to promote economic relations between the two countries by eliminating legal double taxation, without creating possibilities for double non-taxation. This convention contains the standards concerning tax treaties resulting from the work on the problems of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), thus taking into account the commitments made by Luxembourg at the international level. The convention also provides for a provision for the exchange of information meeting the latest international standard in this matter and it will allow, among other things, investment funds to benefit from the advantages of the convention, thus facilitating investments in both directions. Through this agreement, Luxembourg continues to expand its network of tax treaties with agreements in line with the BEPS rules developed at the OECD level.

Ghana's President also met with the President of Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies (Parliament), Fernand Etgen, as well as the chairman of the parliamentary committee for foreign and European affairs, cooperation, immigration and asylum, Yves Cruchten.