Malta, Ghana set sights on practical AI partnership

Malta and Ghana have a chance to form a forward-thinking partnership in artificial intelligence, leveraging Malta's flexible institutions and EU regulatory expertise, paired with Ghana's human capital, scale, and regional influence. At the One Vecta Africa AI Week 2026 in Accra, Malta's High Commissioner to Ghana, Ronald Micallef, proposed a structured dialogue encompassing governments, regulators, universities, and the private sector.

This dialogue should shift from general statements to identifying a limited number of practical initiatives with accountable institutions and tangible results.

Malta's AI journey began in 2019 with a strategy extending to 2030. The nation has since enhanced its institutional foundation to regulate and foster the responsible use of emerging technologies, with the Malta Digital Innovation Authority playing a central role. The High Commissioner emphasized that effective AI strategies require more than just ambition; they need responsible institutions, budgets, and measurable outcomes.

Highlighting Malta's AI for All programme, Micallef stressed that AI literacy is becoming a civic necessity. People must not only use artificial intelligence but also understand its outputs, limitations, and potential impact on their lives. Drawing from Ghana's Sankofa tradition, Micallef warned that AI development raises critical questions about whose histories, languages, and knowledge are preserved.

He referenced Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who stated that the palace must protect memory while also becoming a workshop for the future.

Micallef connected this concept to Project ETHICS, a Malta-supported initiative with Step Up Nigeria and partners in Ghana. This project encourages young people to reflect on integrity, empathy, responsibility, fairness, and service in their daily lives and communities. Ghana's focus on ethics education presents a valuable opportunity for cooperation, especially as young people prepare to interact with powerful but imperfect technological systems.

Micallef also invited Ghanaian institutions to contribute to the proposed Sovereign Technology Centre on Malta's sister island of Gozo. This solar-powered platform, still in the early stages, aims to facilitate research and testing in sovereign technologies, including artificial intelligence, with a focus on retaining control over essential data, computing infrastructure, standards, and critical systems.

Potential areas for collaboration between Malta and Ghana include AI assurance and regulation, AI literacy, ethics education, data governance, joint research, and engagement with the Gozo center.

Micallef stressed that the partnership should not simply involve transferring one country's model to the other. Instead, Malta and Ghana bring different yet complementary strengths. The goal is to learn from each other and develop approaches tailored to their respective national contexts. He concluded by asserting that the future will belong not to those with the most intelligent machines but to those who possess the wisdom to determine the purpose of artificial intelligence.