Story Isaac Ochem
African Trade Ministers and senior government officials responsible for trade convened in Marrakech from 11–12 December 2025 for a high-level Ministerial Retreat to sharpen Africa’s collective priorities and strengthen coordination ahead of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14), scheduled for March 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Held on the margins of the 2nd AfCFTA Business Forum, the retreat aimed to build stronger coherence within the African Group and agree on a common roadmap to advance and defend Africa’s priorities in multilateral trade negotiations.
During the debates, the Honourable Eilizabeth Ofusu Adjare (MP), the Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry recalled that when the WTO was established in Marrakech in 1994, many African countries arrived “like observers at the table,” signing onto a system largely shaped by others’ priorities and with limited voice in the outcomes of the Uruguay Round.
While African countries ratified the agreements in good faith, the Minister noted that the continent too often operated as rule-takers rather than rule-makers. “This is no longer our story,” she stressed, urging that MC14, to be hosted on African soil, must be the moment Africa influences the future of the WTO decisively, including reforms that better support development, policy space for industrialisation, and a more equitable trading system.
Beyond the retreat discussions, the Honourable Minister also sat on a ministerial panel focused on practical steps to make the AfCFTA deliver real commercial results. She called for stronger continental solidarity to address the constraints holding back intra-African trade, highlighting persistent non-tariff barriers, high logistics costs and weak connectivity, limited availability of vessels for sea transportation, lack of harmonisation in customs and standards procedures, and trade finance gaps that continue to restrict SMEs, especially women-led enterprises.
She emphasised that the AfCFTA will succeed only if African countries jointly tackle these bottlenecks through coordinated reforms, improved trade facilitation, and targeted investments in transport, border systems, standards infrastructure, and digital trade enablers.
The Marrakech engagement concluded with a shared commitment to deepen African coordination ahead of MC14, align negotiating positions, and ensure that Africa’s priorities, productive capacity, resilience, and inclusive growth, are firmly reflected in multilateral outcomes.
Ministers reaffirmed that the AfCFTA remains Africa’s primary vehicle for industrialisation and regional value chains, and that a stronger, more unified African voice at MC14 will be essential to building a WTO that works for development and delivers for people and businesses across the continent.
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*PR & COMMS UPDATE – MOTAI*
