Ghana is urging fellow developing economies to overhaul and modernize a long-dormant South–South trade pact, arguing the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP) must be redesigned for today’s economic landscape of geopolitical shocks, tighter financing and climate stress.
Speaking at a GSTP Ministerial meeting on the margins of UNCTAD XVI in Geneva, Trade, Agribusiness and Industry Minister Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare said the framework, created in 1988 to expand preferential trade among developing economies, still has relevance but is misaligned with present-day priorities.
“Ghana sees the GSTP as a platform to translate our collective market potential into concrete partnerships for value addition, innovation, and sustainable development,” she said.
Ofosu-Adjare backed a review of the São Paulo Round outcomes to produce a “revitalized and development-oriented GSTP,” describing the session as an inflection point for reassessing strategy and execution. Her intervention aligns with a broader push at UNCTAD XVI for a more assertive South-South trade agenda amid weakening global demand and rising industrial policy in advanced economies.
Domestically, she linked Ghana’s stance to the government’s 24-hour economy and industrial and agribusiness transformation plan, which aims to lift productivity, increase export competitiveness and ramp up job creation. Ghana’s role within the African Continental Free Trade Area gives it a “strategic bridge” between continental and inter-regional markets, she said, arguing that stronger South–South supply chains could accelerate industrialization across Africa.
Ofosu-Adjare called for the next phase of GSTP work to integrate digital trade, green industrialization and MSME participation, coupled with targeted UNCTAD technical support to ensure countries can exploit any new preference margins.
Ghana’s position forms part of its wider engagement at UNCTAD XVI, where it is pushing for trade rules and cooperation frameworks that can better shield developing economies from external volatility while sustaining investment, technology transfer and export diversification.
