By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, Nov. 04, GNA — President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to deepen economic cooperation between Africa and the Caribbean through stronger trade and investment partnerships.
He pledged to use Ghana’s upcoming African Union chairmanship to champion the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a bridge between the two regions.
Speaking on the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, where he held bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Philip Edward Davis of The Bahamas, President Mahama said Ghana was looking to advance specific areas during its one-year AU chairmanship, with AfCFTA at the centre of that agenda.
“We’ve been looking to see what areas to advance during Ghana’s one year of AU Chairmanship,” President Mahama said.
“And one of the areas we are looking to focus on is the African Continental Free Trade Area, whose protocols we have signed. Majority of African countries have signed it, and we now have to deposit the instrument. But we already have started, the Secretariat is based in Ghana.”
He pointed to his recent visit to Jamaica as evidence of the momentum already building behind the Africa-Caribbean economic agenda.
“When I visited Jamaica in my talks with Prime Minister Andrew Holness,” he said, “I announced that when Ghana becomes Chairman of the AU we are going to advocate and see how we can link up the AfCFTA to CARICOM and create a much bigger trading bloc”.
He said that was one of the things that they would require the support of the Bahamas on, and to see how they could take away the barriers to trade between our two blocs.
President Mahama said they would also encourage direct air travel between their blocs and then also a port-to-port transit, in order that they don’t go through those longer routes.
He reiterated that the time had come for them to have a more direct partnership than they currently have.
President noted that in addition, they had started some discussions on labour exchange.
The two leaders advanced discussions on direct air services, port connectivity, and cross-investment between the two regions.
The AfCFTA, headquartered in Accra, creates a single market of approximately 1.4 billion people with a combined GDP approaching $3 trillion.
For Caribbean businesses, Ghana positions itself as the gateway to that market, while Jamaica and The Bahamas serve as entry points to the Caribbean and Latin America.
President Mahama’s engagement with Prime Minister Davis comes as Commonwealth leaders gather under the theme “Accelerating Partnership and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth,” with intra-Commonwealth trade and investment high on the agenda.
Ghana is scheduled to assume the full AU chairmanship in January 2027, having already been elected First Vice Chair of the African Union for 2026.
President Mahama has indicated that AfCFTA implementation, continental integration, and peace and security would be the pillars of Ghana’s AU leadership.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei