Ghana’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has called for decisive and pragmatic action to accelerate Africa’s trade integration, positioning herself as one of the standout voices at the African Trade Conference 2026 in Cape Town.
Speaking during a high-level ministerial panel on advancing continental trade, Ofosu-Adjare urged African leaders to abandon overly rigid approaches to policy harmonisation and instead embrace flexible, country-led initiatives that can deliver immediate results.
“Progress does not require all 54 countries to move at once. A few can take the lead and others will follow,” she stated, emphasizing the need for momentum over prolonged consensus-building across the African Union.
Her remarks come at a time when intra-African trade remains significantly low hovering around 15 percent of total exports compared to more than 60 percent within Europe. She stressed that unlocking the continent’s economic potential will require not just policy alignment, but deliberate implementation of existing frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area.
On the sidelines of the conference, the Minister held bilateral talks with her Zambian counterpart, focusing on practical measures to ease cross-border trade.
Key issues discussed included reducing non-tariff barriers, harmonising product standards, and aligning regulatory systems to facilitate smoother movement of goods.
Both sides agreed that increasing intra-African trade will depend heavily on cutting redundant trade documentation, investing in digital infrastructure to support cross-border commerce, and strengthening political commitment to execute agreements already in place.
Ofosu-Adjare’s intervention reinforces Ghana’s growing role as a key advocate for actionable trade reforms on the continent, particularly under the AfCFTA framework, which seeks to transform Africa into a single, integrated market.
Story: Patrick Asford Boadu
