Hon. Minister holds bilateral meetings with Italian Air Force Meteorological Services and Danish Meteorological Institute at World Meteorological Congress (Cg-Ext 2025)
The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations Hon. Samuel Nartey George has held separate bilateral meetings with delegations from the Italian Air Force Meteorological Services and the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) on the sidelines of the World Meteorological Congress (Cg-Ext 2025) in Geneva.
The discussions, held on 20 October, 2025 focused on strengthening Ghana’s meteorological capabilities, enhancing early-warning systems, and deepening international cooperation in weather and climate services.
In the first meeting, the Minister met with General Luca Baione and General Giuseppe Addesa of the Italian Air Force Meteorological Services. The talks centered on a proposed technical cooperation framework aimed at improving aeronautical weather forecasting for both civil and military aviation in Ghana.
Areas of collaboration discussed included the development and validation of numerical weather prediction models, space weather forecasting, and hydrological satellite applications to support flood forecasting. The discussions also covered initiatives in wildfire early-warning systems and low-level aviation forecasts to strengthen Ghana’s aviation safety and climate resilience.
The Italian delegation expressed strong commitment to formalizing the partnership and has prepared a draft agreement to be finalized through designated focal points. The Minister welcomed the initiative, describing it as “a timely opportunity to enhance aviation safety and operational forecasting capacity,” and urged the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) to expedite the process toward a formal technical memorandum of understanding.
Later the same day, the Minister met with Ms. Marianne Thyrring, Director General and Permanent Representative of the Danish Meteorological Institute, to review progress under the Strategic Sector Cooperation (SSC) between GMet and DMI.
The SSC, re-established in 2023 with support from the Danish government, is designed as a 10-year partnership focusing on institutional capacity building, digital transformation, and climate services development. Under the programme, several short courses, master’s scholarships, and leadership training sessions have already been implemented through the Danida Fellowship Centre, alongside the ongoing development of a Ghana Climate Atlas.
During the meeting, both sides discussed upcoming milestones including the completion and launch of the Climate Atlas, expansion of research and training opportunities, and establishment of a socio-economic impact framework to evaluate the benefits of meteorological services.
The Minister commended Denmark’s continued support and emphasized the importance of sustaining the SSC initiative following the upcoming transition of Mr. Kim Sarup, Sector Counsellor for Meteorology and Climate.
Both bilateral meetings reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to leveraging international partnerships to strengthen national meteorological infrastructure, enhance climate resilience, and improve service delivery for aviation, agriculture, and disaster management sectors.
The engagements concluded with a joint commitment to convert the discussions held in Geneva into formal agreements and actionable workplans to support Ghana’s early-warning systems and digital meteorological transformation.
©️GMet Communications