The Republic of Ghana and the Commonwealth of Dominica have signed an agreement to waive visa requirements between the two countries.

Ghana’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, H. E. Harold Adlai Agyeman, and H. E. Loreen Bennis-Roberts, ambassador and permanent representative of Dominica signed the historic agreement, on 28th June in New York.

The new visa waiver agreement aims to help increase travel between the two countries as well as facilitating travel between government officials and business executives.

The move is expected to boost tourism and will help to strengthen growing diaspora relations between the two Commonwealth countries.

The agreement will now be given formal consent in accordance with the laws of both countries.

The change will allow citizens of both countries who are holders of valid diplomatic, service or ordinary passports to enter into, transit through, and temporarily stay in the jurisdiction of either country for a period of 90 days at a time –without first obtaining a visa.

This news comes as Dominica announced it has launched its new electronic passport.

Dominica’s biometric passport will store the holder’s personal information including a biometric face, fingerprint and iris data, on a microchip embedded in the document.

Officials said the new passport is highly secure and would protect holders from identity theft.

According to the Minister for National Security and Home Affairs, Honourable Rayburn Blackmoore, Dominica’s passport will hold significant power globally.

He added the new e-passport book has been designed by Canadian Bank Note (CBN), which is a Canada-based company.

At the launch, Tourism Minister Denise Charles said that “electronic passports should make the immigration checkpoint process must faster and would allow immigration officers to quickly authenticate travels, first providing protection against identity theft and fraud.”