The Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, says her ministry will invite trade ministers across West Africa in the coming weeks to begin formal talks on harmonising trade policies and standards within the sub-region, a precursor to continent-wide alignment under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The minister added that Ghana is developing a draft Agribusiness Industry Policy, now under stakeholder review, to be presented to Parliament as part of efforts to standardise and govern upstream inputs, processing, and export requirements for value-chain industries.
She stressed that as host country of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Ghana will continue to push for harmonisation and standards convergence as a competitiveness tool for African producers.
She also stressed on her ministry’s commitment to facilitating seamless trade across Africa, noting that the continent represents a potential market of 1.3 billion people.
She made the disclosure when a six-member delegation from the Pan-African Parliament called on her in Accra. Ofosu-Adjare said the objective 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.
The Pan-African Parliament delegation, led by Namibia’s Rodney Cloete, is in Accra to assess the rollout of the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative and to engage stakeholders, including the AfCFTA Secretariat, on legislative collaboration to accelerate intra-African trade.
