Mahama to Champion Caribbean’s Inclusion in AfCFTA as AU Chair

President John Dramani Mahama has announced that Ghana will advocate expanding the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to include Caribbean countries when it assumes the chairmanship of the African Union (AU) next year.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness during his State Visit to Jamaica, President Mahama said the proposal would build on the AU’s recognition of the Caribbean as Africa’s seventh region and further strengthen economic cooperation between the two regions.

He noted that the Caribbean’s formal acknowledgement as the AU’s seventh region now allows the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to participate in AU meetings and contribute to discussions on issues affecting both Africa and the Caribbean.

President Mahama described the development as a significant milestone in Africa-Caribbean relations and said his next priority would be to extend the benefits of AfCFTA to Caribbean nations.

“We’ve set up the African Continental Free Trade Area that allows us to export goods duty-free and tariff-free into each other’s markets. That’s a 1.4 billion population market and a US$1.3 trillion GDP economy,” he said.

According to the President, integrating the Caribbean into the AfCFTA framework would enable goods to move between Africa and the Caribbean without tariffs, creating new opportunities for businesses, boosting investment, and strengthening economic partnerships across the Atlantic.

He said the proposal would form one of the key initiatives Ghana intends to pursue during its tenure as Chair of the African Union, aimed at transforming historical and cultural ties between Africa and the Caribbean into deeper economic integration.