President John Dramani Mahama has called on African countries to build strong regional production value chains that transcend borders, arguing that fragmented domestic markets cannot support competitive manufacturing or promote meaningful industrialization. The appeal was announced on Wednesday during the opening ceremony of the Africa Trade Summit 2026. The summit is a three-day gathering focused on driving economic transformation on the African continent.
Addressing government officials, business leaders and development partners at the Kempinski Hotel, Mr Mahama stressed that the time has come for Africa to build competitive industries where raw materials, intermediate goods and finished products move seamlessly within the region. He said such integration is essential if the continent is to take advantage of the market scale created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Industrialization cannot succeed within a fragmented domestic market. Not all countries can produce everything, but by working together we can build competitive industries across borders, the president said. He emphasized that industrial integration requires market integration and that both need to be pursued simultaneously.
The AfCFTA, which came into force in January 2021, creates a single market with a population of over 1.3 billion people and a total gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately USD 3.4 trillion. According to Mahama, this will provide scale that African industries have not been able to scale for a long time, transforming the continent into a viable manufacturing and investment destination.
Mr Mahama said Ghana was proud to host the continental body’s secretariat and be among the early adopters of trade based on Ghana’s priorities. However, he cautioned that the AfCFTA would not automatically industrialize Africa and needed to be deliberately linked to industrial policy, infrastructure investment and enterprise development.
The President outlined several key requirements for realizing the potential of AfCFTA. These include reducing non-tariff barriers, simplifying customs procedures, improving logistics networks and investing in digital trade infrastructure. He also called for major investment in transport corridors, energy networks and digital systems, while harmonizing standards and regulations across member states.
Mr. Mahama assigned specific responsibilities to various stakeholders in Africa’s industrial transformation. He called on African governments to provide leadership and stability, the private sector to invest and innovate, financial institutions to design long-term financing solutions, and development partners to align with Africa’s priorities. He added that pan-African institutions need to coordinate their efforts and remove barriers to integration.
The President acknowledged that industrialization is highly capital-intensive and continues to be constrained by limited access to long-term and affordable finance. How can we finance Africa’s industrialization at the scale and speed needed? he asked, highlighting the challenges facing the continent.
He proposed mobilizing domestic resources more effectively through improving revenue collection, strengthening public financial management, and taking decisive action against illicit financial flows. Mr Mahama particularly called on African countries to reallocate existing capital pools to productive businesses.
We must begin redirecting pension funds, insurance and sovereign wealth funds, which manage hundreds of billions of dollars, into productive ventures through appropriate instruments such as industrial bonds, infrastructure funds and diaspora financing, the President explained.
Mr Mahama also criticized Africa’s long-standing dependence on exporting raw materials while importing finished goods, calling the model exploitative and outdated. Our generation is defining what financial independence truly means. What is freedom without economic transformation? Complete? he asked.
He argued that continued exports of unprocessed goods such as cocoa, timber and minerals represented a modern form of colonialism that denied African economies jobs, skills and profits. Mr Mahama declared that he could no longer accept an economic model that exported raw materials to Africa and imported finished goods.
The President urged African leaders to envision a continent with prosperous industrial corridors, integrated supply chains and competitive factories that produce for both African and global markets. An Africa where prosperity is shared and opportunities are created within the country. This vision is bold but achievable. What is needed now is urgency and determination, he said. We must move from declaration to realization, from agreement to implementation, and from vision to construction.
Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, Ghana’s Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, told the summit that Africa is at a critical juncture, with a major recovery in global industrial policy driven by supply chain resilience, strategic autonomy and national security concerns. He highlighted Ghana’s focus on textiles, clothing, auto parts and pharmaceuticals, saying these are strategic sectors with strong employment potential and regional market opportunities under the AfCFTA.
The Minister pointed to recent improvements in trade logistics as evidence of Ghana’s readiness to support the expansion of regional trade. He said the first and second phases of the Tema Port Expansion Project have now been completed and modernization works at Takoradi Port continue.
Ofosu Agyare urged development partners to increase long-term industrial financing, warning that without sustainable capital for manufacturing and regional value chains, Africa risks missing out on a historic opportunity. He also announced plans to convene African trade ministers to discuss harmonizing border procedures and removing bottlenecks affecting the implementation of the AfCFTA, starting with West African countries.
Sir Sam Jonah, Chairman of the African Chamber of Trade Advisory Committee, argued that industrialization is Africa’s shield and sword. He warned that without it, the continent would remain locked in as a supplier of raw materials, leaving other continents to capture value from processing and manufacturing.
Fatou Haidara, Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), said Africa needs to urgently move from policy ambition to industrial implementation if it is to benefit from the reconfiguration of global value chains and the opportunities of the AfCFTA.
The 2026 Africa Trade Summit is hosted by the African Chamber of Trade in collaboration with the Government of Ghana. The summit will bring together decision-makers who will shape Africa’s economic transformation under the framework of the AfCFTA and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the continent’s long-term development blueprint.
The summit coincided with an official visit to Ghana by President Carlos Manuel Vila Nova of Sao Tome and Principe, who attended the opening ceremony with President Mahama. The gathering will provide a platform for deals, investment partnerships and policy dialogue to shape the next phase of Africa’s economic growth.
Ghana has established its AfCFTA Secretariat headquarters in Accra and is recognized as a leader in AfCFTA implementation. The country is actively participating in the Guided Trade Initiative, which aims to test trade procedures and identify bottlenecks before full-scale implementation.
President Mahama also highlighted Ghana’s own efforts to move away from being a commodity export dependent economy by promoting domestic processing, reducing imports and increasing export earnings. Since the establishment of the Gold Commission, exports from the small-scale mining sector have increased to 104 tonnes and 100 per cent of foreign exchange has been remitted to Ghana, the President said, citing an example of value-addition initiatives.
The 24-hour economy initiative, a flagship policy of President Mahama’s administration, aims to transform Ghana’s economic landscape by enabling businesses to continue operating. During the review in January 2025, Minister Ofosu Agyare stressed that the policy will help position Ghana as a trade and commercial hub as industries will operate around the clock to meet the growing demand in African markets.
Arguing that political freedom without economic transformation remains incomplete, Mahama stressed that Africa needs to move beyond lofty declarations to practical strategies that foster industrial growth, value addition and jobs. He said it was clear that political freedom would be incomplete without economic transformation.
