Malta and Ghana set sights on practical AI partnership

Malta and Ghana are exploring a practical partnership in artificial intelligence (AI) during the One Vecta Africa AI Week 2026 in Accra. High Commissioner Ronald Micallef of Malta proposed this structured dialogue, emphasizing the importance of moving beyond broad declarations and identifying measurable initiatives with responsible institutions.

Malta's experience includes building trustworthy institutions, ensuring everyone understands AI, and keeping human values and national purpose central. Malta launched its national AI strategy in 2019, focusing on regulatory support for emerging technologies. The Malta Digital Innovation Authority, established by law, has become the notifying authority and principal market-surveillance authority under the European Union's AI Act.

The country also runs AI for All, a free online program that teaches AI literacy to citizens and residents aged 14 and above. Drawing from Ghana's Sankofa tradition, Micallef warned about the potential loss of cultural heritage in AI development. He referenced the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who urged the palace to be both a guardian of memory and a workshop for the future.

This thinking aligns with Project ETHICS, a Malta-supported initiative that encourages young people to reflect on ethics, empathy, responsibility, fairness, and service. In Ghana, there's a growing interest in strengthening ethics education, creating opportunities for cooperation, especially as young people prepare for a technologically advanced world.

High Commissioner Micallef also invited Ghanaian institutions to contribute to a Sovereign Technology Centre on Malta's sister island of Gozo, which aims to foster research and testing in sovereign technologies, including AI. Potential areas for collaboration include AI assurance, regulation, literacy, ethics education, data governance, joint research, and working with the proposed Gozo center.

Micallef stressed that the partnership should be mutually enriching, leveraging Malta's institutional agility and European regulatory experience, along with Ghana's talent, scale, and regional influence, to build solutions tailored to each nation's unique needs.