Trinidad and Tobago and Ghana are moving steadfastly in strengthening their trade and bilateral ties.

This follows a visit by the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, King of the Ashanti kingdom of Ghana, on a trade mission to TT last year. Since then, both countries have sought ways to improve their trade relations.

In light of this, Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee-Scoon, and the TT Manufacturers Association (TTMA) led a trade mission to Ghana from March 12-17, which resulted in businesses returning with leads and contracts and several stakeholders calling Ghana “the land of opportunity.”

However, getting to Ghana has once again proven to be an issue, as the Caribbean has no direct route to West Africa. But with businesses already making deals and seeking to put plans in place to establish a proper route, TT is showing its determination to reach the land of opportunity.

Land of opportunity

TTMA president Roger Roach said 18 companies from the private sector and nine state agencies, a total of 48 business representatives, responded to the call to go to Ghana and seek business opportunities.

He was speaking at the TTMA’s AGM at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain on Tuesday.

“We calculated that among the 27 organisations, over 200 business-to-business meetings took place between TT companies and Ghana counterparts during the trade mission,” he said.

The TTMA also signed a memorandum of understanding with its Ghanaian counterpart, the Association of Ghana Industries, to further the private sector interests and expand trade and investment linkages between the two countries.

Gopee-Scoon met with the Asantehene, Ministers of Trade, Food and Foreign Affairs and several Ghanaian bodies to establish significant trade ties and open the doors to improving trade to Ghana.

In her remarks at the AGM, she pointed out the significant business opportunities that TT has in Ghana – a starting point to enter West Africa and the African continent as a whole.

“Ghana is real in terms of a place of opportunity for us. Ghana is a soft landing in terms of its political stability. Anyone should really see this market as a serious one – a market of more than 30 million people – with a very friendly climate in terms of doing business.”

TT has maintained a positive trade balance with Ghana, doing $15.2 million in exports and $0.6 million in imports from 2018-2022. The trade balance between the two countries increased by 24.7 per cent in 2022, moving from a surplus of $23.6 million in 2018 to $29.5 million in 2022.

Gopee-Scoon said the country has significant gaps that could be filled by TT manufacturers in terms of food processing.

“You could find yourself doing some contract manufacturing or you can probably find inputs from Ghana,” she said. TT can also provide Ghana access to a place for agroprocessing, being well on the trajectory for growth in the non-energy sector.

The statement attributed increased performance in the non-energy sector, at least in part, to the rebound of the real GDP in 2022, and its