President John Dramani Mahama has pledged to use his upcoming African Union (AU) chairmanship to create the world’s largest trading bloc by uniting Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America in a single economic coalition.
Mahama announced the plan on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, during a bilateral meeting with Surinamese President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York. The two countries signed a new cooperation agreement expected to deepen collaboration.
He said he would bring together the AU, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to work on trade and take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“That will become the biggest trading bloc in the whole of the world,” Mahama said, adding that such a coalition would give the Global South an equal seat at the global table.
Mahama said the historic Ghana-led UN resolution on reparatory justice — passed through a coalition spanning Africa, the Caribbean, South America and the entire African diaspora — had created a stronger platform for deeper economic cooperation.
“That resolution has given us a stronger platform for us to work together, not only on reparations, but also on bringing our economies together,” he said.
He said countries of the South continued to face the same structural challenges and were still regarded as “spoils of war” and less endowed nations.
“The only way we can break out of that stranglehold and have an equal table, chair the table, is for us to work together,” Mahama said.
He noted that Suriname had been working to bring CELAC and the AU closer, and said he would pursue that agenda aggressively under his AU chairmanship.
“In terms of trade, already we have the African Continental Free Trade Area. I don’t see why we can’t expand that to include a larger area — CELAC, Caribbean and Africa. That will become the biggest trading bloc in the whole of the world,” he said.
On bilateral relations, Mahama recalled the long-standing ties between Ghana and Suriname dating back to the early years of independence. He said the two countries already had agreements covering diplomatic and service passports, and expressed hope that visa-free travel would soon be extended to ordinary citizens.
“I hope that we’ll work together to eventually open it up so that one day Surinamese can travel to Ghana without a visa and Ghanaians can travel to Suriname without a visa,” he said.
Mahama thanked Suriname for supporting the UN reparatory justice resolution and briefed Geerlings-Simons on the Accra Next Steps Conference, which adopted 19 commitments and established three panels: the High-Level Panel, the Expert Panel and the Panel on Restitution.
He also invited the Surinamese president to Ghana’s 70th Independence anniversary on March 6, 2027, describing Ghana as the first sub-Saharan African country to achieve independence.
The proposal builds on the AfCFTA, which covers a market of about 1.4 billion people and a combined economy valued at roughly US$3 trillion. The AU has already recognised the Caribbean as Africa’s seventh region, allowing CARICOM to participate in AU meetings and discussions.
Afreximbank has committed to lending up to US1 billion — with 57 per cent of unrealised potential attributed to logistical, procedural and infrastructure challenges.
Analysts say the value of Mahama’s vision may lie less in immediate economic gains and more in its potential to accelerate political and strategic collaboration across the Global South. Mahama acknowledged that expanding trade would require deliberate policy choices, sustained collaboration and investment in infrastructure and logistics.
As Ghana prepares to assume the AU chairmanship, the proposal stands as one of the most ambitious visions for Global South integration in decades — one that, if realised, could reshape trade across three continents.
