Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has pledged to revive the Free-trade Agreement among Commonwealth countries if elected as the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat. She emphasized that a successful free-trade agreement among member states would enhance integration and participation in global and regional supply chains, thereby boosting their involvement in the multilateral trading system.
Speaking at a lecture organized by the Council on Foreign Relations Ghana, Madam Botchwey highlighted the changing dynamics, including advanced negotiations between the United Kingdom and India, as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which provide an opportunity to consolidate agreements toward a Commonwealth-wide free trade agreement. She stressed the importance of responding to the development needs and challenges of developing countries within the Commonwealth for any transformative trade and development agreement.
Madam Botchwey urged development partners to scale up aid for trade disbursements to enhance productive capacity and proposed provisions to encourage businesses from developed members to invest in developing member states, particularly in the Pacific Island States, the Caribbean, and small states in both the service and non-service sectors.
The Commonwealth is an association of 56 countries working towards shared goals of prosperity, democracy, and peace, and its Secretariat coordinates and carries out much of the Commonwealth's work.