Ghana pushes for harmonised trade policies across West Africa
By Nii Trebi Hammond
The Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry is spearheading efforts to harmonise trade policies across West Africa in a bid to unlock new opportunities within Africa’s 1.3 billion–person market under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, announced that her ministry will, in the coming weeks, convene trade ministers from across the sub-region to initiate formal discussions on aligning trade policies and standards.
She said the move would serve as a crucial step towards continent-wide integration under the AfCFTA framework.
As part of Ghana’s broader industrial development agenda, the minister disclosed that a draft Agribusiness Industry Policy is currently undergoing stakeholder review and will soon be presented to Parliament.
The proposed policy seeks to standardise and regulate activities along the agribusiness value chain, from input supply and processing to export requirements, with the aim of boosting efficiency, value addition and competitiveness.
“As host country of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Ghana will continue to push for harmonisation and standards convergence as a competitiveness tool for African producers,” The Minister said.
She reaffirmed her ministry’s commitment to promoting seamless intra-African trade, noting that the continent represents a potential market of 1.3 billion people.
The announcement came during a visit to Accra by a delegation from the Pan-African Parliament, led by Namibia’s Rodney Cloete. The team is in Ghana to assess the implementation of the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative and to engage key stakeholders on legislative cooperation.
According to the Minister, the ultimate goal is “to reduce regulatory friction for firms trading across borders and to build a ‘common rules environment’ for the West African market before expanding the process to all African trade ministers.”
