19 March 2026: Joint communique of the third meeting of the UK-Ghana TPA Committee
Updated 5 August 2026
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The third meeting of the Ghana-UK Trade Partnership Agreement (TPA) Committee was held in Accra on 19 March 2026, marking the five-year anniversary of the agreement entering into force.
The meeting was opened by the Deputy Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, the Honourable Sampson Ahi, and the Development Director at the British High Commission Accra, Ms. Terri Sarch. It was co-chaired by Ms. Stella Akosua Ansah, Director for Foreign Trade and Negotiations and Mr. Paul Whittingham, Deputy Director for Trade for Development at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The parties recognised the presence of Mr. Kolawole Sofola, Director of Trade at the Commission at the Economic Community of West African States.
Ghana and the UK recognised the importance of annual committee meetings for progressing the implementation of the TPA and for growing bilateral trade. Both parties remarked that economic growth was a priority for their respective Governments and that trade was instrumental in achieving this.
Ghana and the UK updated on outstanding actions from the 2024 Committee and discussed the following items:
- Finalisation of the Rules of Procedure for Dispute Settlement and the appointment of an arbitration panel as soon as possible.
- Implementation of the 2024 to 2025 Liberalisation Schedule.
- Previous and ongoing trade-related development cooperation including the UK-Ghana Jobs and Economic Transformation Programme (JET), the UK-Ghana Reform Dialogue and the UK Standards Partnership Programme.
- Measures to raise awareness and understanding of the agreement among business stakeholders.
- Implementation of, and support for, African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
- Rules of origin provisions within the TPA and their application with the aim of supporting both regional and bilateral trade.
- Their respective trade policy programmes and priorities ahead of the upcoming 14th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference to be held in Cameroon.
- Preference utilisation data and the importance of data sharing to enhance opportunities for businesses, traders and investors.
- Market access barriers and economic diversification including for agricultural and novel food products.
- Trade in services, recognising trade in services as an engine of growth for both economies.
- Respective approaches to Geographical Indications.
- Perspectives on issues relating to preference erosion.
Both parties agreed to follow up with technical discussions on application of the liberalisation schedule, rules of origin and trade data. They reiterated a commitment to frequent meetings between committee sessions to enhance progress with regards to implementation, and to increase bilateral trade.