The Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has defended the country’s core interests as leader of Ghana’s delegation to the 14th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC14) at the second Ministerial Conference ever hosted on African soil.

The conference in Yaounde, Cameroun, held from Wednesday, March 25 to Sunday, March 29, brought together trade ministers from 166 members to negotiate outcomes on key issues affecting the multilateral trading system.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare articulated Ghana’s positions on development, agriculture, fisheries subsidies and WTO reform, as the team engaged actively in negotiations and high-level side events, pushing interests that aligned with the broader African Group stance.

Ghana’s strategic priorities at the MC14 centred on securing tangible deliverables for developing nations, namely a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security to stabilise domestic prices and support smallholder farmers; the elimination of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies that undermined Ghanaian agribusiness and export competitiveness; and WTO reform that would preserve policy space for industrialisation, agricultural modernisation and economic diversification while fully protecting special and differential treatment for developing countries.

It also centred on fisheries subsidies disciplines that reflected the realities of coastal communities and artisanal fishers; and enhanced integration of African economies into global value chains through agribusiness development, digital trade facilitation and sustainable industrial growth.

“These outcomes remain central to the government’s vision of a 24-Hour Economy built on producing, processing, exporting and consuming what the country makes,” an official of the Ministry of Trade said.

Breakout session

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare was a panellist at the high-level Trade and Investment Session, where she spotlighted opportunities for agribusiness, manufacturing and services growth. 
She was also one of the key speakers at the China Investment to Support Africa Industrialisation Conference, underscoring Ghana’s readiness to attract quality investments that accelerated industrial transformation and job creation.

The minister engaged in critical bilateral meetings to discuss trade, investment and cooperation on pressing issues with Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Morocco and Turkey.

Those targeted discussions explored deeper market access, agribusiness collaboration, manufacturing partnerships, services trade and digital economy opportunities.

The Ghanaian delegation comprised senior officials and technical experts from the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, the Ministry of Finance, the leadership of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism, the Ghana Permanent Mission in Geneva, the Ghana Export Development Authority, the Ghana Standards Authority and the Ghana Borderless Alliance.

The collective delegation robustly defended Ghana’s positions across all thematic areas of the conference, including agriculture, fisheries subsidies, e-commerce, WTO reform and development.

“Ghana’s active and results-oriented participation reinforces its commitment to a fair, rules-based and development-oriented global trade regime that delivers concrete benefits for its people,” the official added.