Foreign Minister inaugurates first Ghana Premium Application Centre in London
Mrs Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has inaugurated the Premium Application Centre (PAC) in London.
This is a premium service to complement the existing consular services provided by the mission.
Prior to the establishment of PAC, the Ministry, led by Mr Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, in charge of passports and visas, and the Ghana High Commission UK carried out sensitization tours and public engagements with the Ghanaian community in the UK.
There, he disclosed the plans for rolling out the improved consular services to ease the pressure and challenges that many applicants faced.
During the interactions in the UK on the August 10 and 11, 2022, Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said the government had recognised the need for improvement in its services at the missions abroad, and as such, the Ministry had made the decision to extend and deliver front-end premium services through a public-private partnership arrangement with Access Citizens Services Ghana, an intermediary specialist service provider for processing visas and passports applications.
The Premium Application Centre, London is the first of its kind in the diaspora for Ghana’s missions and is the culmination of efforts within the West African country to deliver premium passport and visa application services to citizens following a successful four years pilot in Ghana.
As part of the long-term objectives of the government to improve consular services both at home and abroad, the opening of the brand-new Premium Application Center (PAC) is to give citizens of Ghana and visitors to Ghana, in the UK, convenient access to an efficient and comprehensive process for faster passport and visa application and acquisition all in one place.
Mrs Ayorkor Botchwey, speaking at the ceremony, acknowledged the importance of the Centre and reiterated the resolve of the Ministry to further improve its service delivery.
She said, “…this milestone event marks another achievement in the determination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to provide quality service delivery at home and its missions abroad.”
She said the opening of this PAC, the first to have been established, was a testimony to the progress made in recent years, every applicant could expect expedited frontline consular services for passport, visa, and travel certificate applications.
The Minister emphasised that the final determination of applications would be done by the consular section of the Ghana High Commission – so this is for frontline services only.
“I, therefore, call on Ghanaians and the public to take advantage of this PAC. As the Ministry opens such facilities in several Ghanaian missions in the coming years, we will draw lessons from the successes and shortcomings of the London PAC – I hope more successes than shortcomings,” she added.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Ghana’s High Commissioner to UK and Ireland called on all Ghanaians in the UK to use the services of PAC.
The High Commissioner noted that the establishment of PAC comes as a relief to the mission as it provides an alternative for anyone wanting to apply for visas and passports.
“I hope that we’ll cooperate so that this becomes a success and demonstrates the way Ghana is improving its consular services globally,” he added.
Mr Nidal Kamouni, CEO of Access Group, said, “We are a Ghanaian company with international reach serving reputable governments and are delighted to be working with the government of Ghana to handle and manage what we call the front-end element of service delivery, which is basically ensuring that all citizens and visitors to Ghana have the best experience when it comes to applying for their passports & visas, offloading some of the volumes and load off the High Commission.”
He said the collaboration would enable them to help all applicants in a timely manner, providing faster processing service, which allows the diplomatic missions to focus on the decision-making part of issuance.
Source: GNA