Keypoints:
- Mahama proposes Caribbean access to AfCFTA
- CARICOM has already selected the PAPSS model
- Legal and customs barriers remain unresolved
PRESIDENT John Dramani Mahama has pledged to use Ghana’s expected leadership of the African Union in 2027 to seek a formal route for Caribbean countries to access the African Continental Free Trade Area, potentially reshaping commercial ties across the Atlantic.
The proposal would move Africa-Caribbean relations beyond cultural solidarity towards a practical trade framework. Yet governments must still settle the legal mechanism, transport links, customs rules and payment systems needed to make such a corridor work.
Trade ambition takes centre stage
Speaking alongside Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in Kingston on August 2, Mahama said trade volumes would not rise through political declarations alone. He argued that both regions must invest in infrastructure and logistics while widening the market available to exporters.
‘We don’t kid ourselves that you snap your finger and suddenly our trade volumes will go up. We need to work at it,’ Mahama said during the joint media engagement in Kingston.
He added that, upon Ghana assuming the rotating chairmanship of the African Union in 2027, he would press for Caribbean access to AfCFTA. ECOWAS endorsed Ghana to represent West Africa in the AU Assembly Bureau and chair the Union in 2027.
The initiative complements Ghana’s effort to position itself as an AfCFTA gateway for international investors, supported by Accra’s role as host of the trade area’s secretariat.
Trade rules will shape access
Mahama described a digital system through which businesses could identify approved products and producers, citing processed foods, pharmaceuticals, electrical equipment, iron and steel.
However, regulatory approval alone does not secure AfCFTA preferences. Exporters must identify the applicable tariff concession, meet rules-of-origin requirements, obtain valid proof of origin and comply with the destination country’s customs procedures.
As Africa Briefing’s analysis of the emerging single market explains, goods must satisfy origin tests and national customs requirements before receiving preferential tariff treatment.
Those requirements matter because the AfCFTA remains a rules-based preferential trading area rather than a borderless customs union. Any arrangement involving Caribbean exporters would need to explain how their goods would qualify and what tariff treatment would apply.
Payments groundwork already exists
Mahama also linked the proposal to digital settlement in participating countries’ currencies, reducing dependence on an external currency for every transaction.
The idea would build on existing Africa-Caribbean work. In 2023, governors of all 11 CARICOM central banks unanimously selected the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System as their preferred model for processing intra-regional trade transactions.
PAPSS enables cross-border payments in local currencies through participating central banks, commercial banks and payment providers. Connecting that architecture to Africa-Caribbean commerce would still require regulatory, banking and technical agreements, but the concept is not starting from zero.
Cooperation framework revived
Ghana and Jamaica have restored their Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation after a 20-year gap. The mechanism has advanced work in trade, air services, health, defence, education and culture.
Agreements signed in May cover the recruitment of Ghanaian health professionals, knowledge transfer, disaster response, maritime security and cooperation against transnational threats.
The commission is expected to meet every two years, alternating between Kingston and Accra, giving both governments a structure for measuring progress.
Legal route remains unresolved
The AfCFTA Agreement is open to signature, ratification or accession by African Union member states. Caribbean countries therefore cannot enter the framework through a presidential declaration alone.
Their participation would require a separately negotiated trade arrangement, an amendment to the existing legal framework or another mechanism approved by AfCFTA state parties.
That legal question will determine whether Mahama’s pledge develops into a functioning economic bridge or remains a statement of political intent.
For now, it gives Africa-Caribbean relations a sharper commercial focus and tests whether shared history can be converted into viable routes for goods, capital and payments.
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