Ghana is seeking a bilateral trade and investment agreement with Burkina Faso to strengthen cross-border commerce, improve trade facilitation and promote joint industrial ventures that will create greater value from the two countries’ resources.
The Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, announced the proposal while delivering Ghana’s Guest of Honour address at the 18th International Arts and Crafts Fair of Ouagadougou (SIAO 2026) in Burkina Faso. She said the proposed agreement would build on existing commercial relations and create practical opportunities for businesses and traders in both countries.
Mrs Ofosu-Adjare disclosed that formal trade between Ghana and Burkina Faso stood at just over US$1 billion in 2025, while informal trade accounted for an even greater part of their economic relationship. She highlighted the contribution of women traders who regularly cross through Paga and Hamile with agricultural produce, textiles and livestock, describing them as central to the two countries’ trade relations.
“Formal trade between our two countries stood at just over a billion last year, and informal trade tells an even bigger story. The women who cross at Paga and Hamile every week with onions and tomatoes, cloth and livestock are not a footnote to our trade relationship; they are its backbone, and our policies must serve them,” she said.
The Minister described the economies of Ghana and Burkina Faso as complementary, explaining that both countries have products and resources that can support mutually beneficial trade. While Ghana supplies Burkina Faso with manufactured and industrial goods, Burkina Faso provides Ghana with agricultural produce and livestock.
“Our trading profile is complementary, and that is our strength. Ghana supplies Burkina Faso with plastics and household goods, iron and steel, fertilizer, cement, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, beverages, paper and packaging, and inputs for your mining industry. Burkina Faso, in turn, supplies Ghana with very important things like livestock, onion, tomato, sesame, shea, mango and other fruits,” she stated.
Against this background, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said Ghana was ready to conclude a bilateral trade and investment agreement with Burkina Faso, guided by the need to strengthen existing economic complementarities rather than create unnecessary competition. She said the arrangement would also reflect the two countries’ commitments under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“Ghana stands to conclude a bilateral trade and investment agreement with Burkina Faso, designed around synergy rather than competition and consistent with our shared commitment under the African Continental Free Trade Area,” she said.
She outlined three priority areas the proposed agreement should address, beginning with common standards and procedures for food safety, plant health and animal health. The arrangement would include mutual recognition of inspections and certificates to reduce repeated checks and make it easier for agricultural products to cross the border.
“First, common standards and protocols on food safety, on plant and animal health, with mutual recognition of inspection and certificates, so that good produce in both countries can cross the border with confidence and without duplication,” she explained.
The second priority, she said, would involve closer cooperation on border management, transit facilitation and security along trade corridors to ensure the efficient movement of goods between the two countries.
“In addition, it should deliver closer coordination on border management, transit facilitation and corridor security, so that goods move faster from Tema to Ouagadougou and from Ouagadougou to Tema,” she added.
The third area would focus on developing the craft and creative industries through partnerships between artisans, design institutions and research bodies. The Minister proposed shared workshops, access to financing, reciprocal participation in trade fairs and joint promotion of products made by artisans in both countries.
“Last but not least, a joint programme for crafts and the creative industry that links our master artisans, design schools and research institutions to shared workshops and finance, with reciprocal participation in each other’s fairs and joint promotion of the products our people make on both sides of the border,” she said.
Beyond trade facilitation and creative industry partnerships, the Minister called for greater cooperation in processing locally available raw materials. She observed that resources such as cotton, leather and shea often leave the region in their raw state before returning as finished products, arguing that joint ventures could help both countries retain more value from their resources.
She also identified opportunities for collaboration in the tomato and onion value chains, alongside the exchange of knowledge and expertise in irrigation and seed development.
Addressing artisans from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and other parts of the continent, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare recognised their contribution to the creative economy and described them as central to the success of the fair.
“To the artisans gathered here from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and across our continent, you are the true guests of honour of this fair,” she said.
The proposed agreement, if concluded, would provide a framework for translating the existing trade relationship between Ghana and Burkina Faso into practical cooperation, with potential benefits for cross-border traders, farmers, manufacturers and artisans in both countries.
Related Posts
