Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to advocate for the inclusion of Caribbean nations in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) when Ghana assumes the chairmanship of the African Union (AU) next year, describing the initiative as a major step toward strengthening economic cooperation between Africa and the Caribbean.
According to The Graphics, President Mahama made the announcement during a joint press conference with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in Kingston as part of his official state visit to Jamaica. He said expanding the AfCFTA framework would deepen trade, investment and commercial partnerships while reinforcing the longstanding historical and cultural ties shared by Africa and the Caribbean.
The Ghanaian leader acknowledged that increasing trade volumes between the two regions would require deliberate investment in infrastructure, logistics and market access rather than expecting immediate results. He explained that broadening the free trade area to include Caribbean countries would create greater opportunities for businesses, manufacturers and exporters on both sides of the Atlantic. Mahama noted that the AfCFTA operates through a harmonised standards regime, enabling products certified by a participating country’s national standards authority to be traded across member states without undergoing multiple certification processes.
According to him, the system simplifies cross-border trade by allowing approved products—including processed foods, pharmaceuticals, electrical equipment, steel products and other manufactured goods—to access markets throughout the continent more efficiently. He said extending this framework to Caribbean countries would strengthen commercial links, improve market access and unlock new opportunities for businesses while advancing broader economic integration between Africa and the Caribbean. The proposal forms part of Ghana’s broader vision of strengthening South-South cooperation and leveraging the AfCFTA as a platform for expanding Africa’s trade relations with regions that share historical, cultural and economic ties with the continent.
