As AU Chair I will push for inclusion of Caribbean in AfCFTA — Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to advocate for the inclusion of Caribbean nations in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) when he assumes the Chairmanship of the African Union (AU), describing the initiative as a major step towards deepening economic cooperation between Africa and the Caribbean.
He said extending the AfCFTA framework to Caribbean countries would enhance trade, investment and commercial partnerships while strengthening the long-standing historical and cultural ties between the two regions.
President Mahama made the announcement during a joint press conference with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness as part of his official state visit to Jamaica.
Addressing the prospects of expanding trade between Africa and the Caribbean, the President acknowledged that increasing trade volumes would require sustained effort, strategic investment and improved infrastructure rather than expecting immediate gains.
“With regards to trade, we don’t kid ourselves that you snap your fingers and suddenly our trade volumes will go up. We need to work at it. And that is why I said one way of working at it is to put in the infrastructure and the logistics. But the second is to expand the trade area.
“And that is why I said as chair of the AU, I am going to push for the inclusion of the Caribbean into the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
President Mahama explained that the AfCFTA operates through a harmonised standards regime that enables businesses to trade across participating countries once their products have been certified by the relevant national standards authority.
According to him, the harmonisation of standards eliminates the need for multiple certification processes, making it easier for manufacturers and exporters to access markets across the continent.
“The way the African Continental Free Trade Area works is that we harmonise our standards. And once you get approval from your standards authority that your product is of the standard that you can export, then they put you on a register.
“And if you go on, you can see which commodities qualify. They can be electrical cables. They can be transformers. They can be iron and steel products. They can be processed food products.
“I mean, there are so many pharmaceutical products. And so once you go in there and you decide to trade, you go on the platform. It will get you in touch with the producer in whichever country.”
He indicated that expanding the continental free trade area to include Caribbean countries could unlock new opportunities for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic while promoting greater economic integration and shared prosperity.