Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has announced Ghana’s plan to spearhead a pilot continental digital trade corridor aimed at transforming cross-border transactions and deepening economic integration across Africa.
Speaking at the opening of the 2026 3i Africa Summit in Accra on Wednesday, the Vice President said Ghana would partner with Rwanda, Zambia and other African nations to test a new digital trade framework under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The initiative is expected to remove long-standing barriers to intra-African trade by enabling smoother digital transactions across borders through mobile money interoperability, digital identity verification, harmonised e-invoicing systems and common Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols.
According to Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, the pilot framework will be integrated into the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System and supported by a regulatory sandbox that allows participating countries to adopt the system without overhauling their laws.
She identified payments, identity systems, regulation and infrastructure as the four pillars needed to make the initiative successful.
The Vice President stressed that Africa’s future economic independence depends heavily on controlling its digital infrastructure.
“Economic sovereignty in the twenty-first century is inseparable from digital sovereignty,” she stated.
She also pointed to Ghana’s Ghana Card as a model for strengthening cross-border digital identity verification.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang urged African governments to align regulations to reduce trade costs, especially for small businesses, and called for stronger political commitment and private investment to make the initiative a continental success.
