Ghana is fast-tracking the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to unlock new opportunities for Ghanaian businesses across Africa by moving beyond commodity-based trade towards value addition for its traditional exports such as gold, oil and cocoa.Speaking during the Ghana Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) 2025 Business Roadshow, Ghana's Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare highlighted the government's commitment to creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive under AfCFTA by improving trade infrastructure, financing and market access. "Under our Market Expansion Programme, the National AfCFTA Coordination Office is providing firm-level support to over 2,000 MSMEs in Ghana.
This includes sensitization, market readiness training programmes, training on AfCFTA's Rules of Origin, trade finance and market access initiatives.Ghana has also conducted targeted trade expeditions to East Africa, taking Ghanaian businesses to Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda to explore real-time opportunities and negotiate supply contracts," the Minister said in a speech read on her behalf by the Acting National Coordinator, National AfCFTA Coordination Office, Benjamin Kwaku Asiam. The Ghana IATF2025 Business Roadshow brought together government officials, the trade community, including businesses and investors, and executives from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).The event focused on promoting intra-African trade under the theme: Harnessing Regional and Continental Value Chains: Accelerating Africa's Industrialisation and Global Competitiveness through AfCFTA. The Business Roadshow is one of five planned in Accra, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lagos, and Algiers ahead of the fourth edition of the biennial Intra-African Trade Fair 2025 (IATF2025), scheduled to take place in Algiers, Algeria, from 4 - 10 September 2025.IATF is Africa's premier trade and investment event, held by Afreximbank, in collaboration with the African Union Commission and the AfCFTA Secretariat, and provides a platform for businesses to showcase their goods and exchange trade and investment information within the continent's single market. In his keynote address, the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, H.E.
Wamkele Mene noted that the IATF offers an unparalleled platform for the exchange of trade and investment information; and is a marketplace of ideas, opportunities, and partnerships. "As we work to scale up intra-African trade, build regional value chains, and accelerate industrialisation, IATF serves as a key platform for connecting African businesses, investors, governments, and innovators.
It is a catalyst for turning the promise of AfCFTA into concrete outcomes: trade deals signed, investments mobilised, and jobs created.By establishing a large, integrated market, AfCFTA encourages countries to specialize and add value to products, attracting investment and creating jobs," H.E.
