Ghana and Burkina Faso have signed a defence cooperation agreement to enhance the security of the main road corridors linking the two countries. The aim is to better protect freight flows and carriers on strategic axes for regional trade, in a context marked by continued insecurity in the Sahel.

The agreement was signed in Accra by Ghana's Acting Minister of Defence, Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, and Burkina Faso's Minister of State for War and Patriotic Defence, Major General Celestin Simporé.

It provides for enhanced security cooperation, including through escort and protection operations on the main cross-border trade corridors linking the two countries.

The authorities believe that this will help secure strategic supply routes, protect economic activities and strengthen bilateral cooperation in defence.

For Burkina Faso, a landlocked country, these corridors are essential infrastructures for the transport of imports and exports through the ports of coastal States, particularly Ghana.

The security of these routes is therefore a major challenge for the continuity of logistics chains, while armed attacks in certain areas of the Sahel continue to disrupt road transport and cross-border trade.

Trade relations between the two countries illustrate the importance of this cooperation. According to the Burkina Faso Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD), Ghana was, in the fourth quarter of 2025, the largest supplier to Burkina Faso, accounting for CFAF 113.4 billion (approximately $19.4 million) of imports.

Over the same period, it also represented the second largest African export destination in Burkina Faso, valued at CFAF 7.6 billion (approximately $13.4 million).

However, trade was weakened by the deteriorating security situation, notably following the attack on Titao in February 2026, which had cost the lives of eight Ghanaian traders and carriers.

Beyond security measures, this agreement is part of a broader process of strengthening relations between Accra and Ouagadougou.

At the 13th session of their Joint Cooperation Commission in February 2026, the two countries had adopted several agreements on, inter alia, transport and transit, cross-border cooperation, mutual recognition of driving permits and the management of disasters and humanitarian crises.

The objective is to consolidate economic exchanges while improving the resilience of logistics corridors linking Burkina Faso to its main Ghanaian maritime access.