The Vice President, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, has urged African leaders to invest in intra-African trade, industrial policies, infrastructure and connectivity, innovation and technology, as well as institutional capacity and governance.

According to her, investing in these interconnected areas would support the private sector to build skills, sustain productivity, and enhance economic resilience across the continent.

Vice President Opoku-Agyemang was delivering the keynote address at the Africa Trade Awards Gala held in Accra, marking the conclusion of the Africa Trade Summit 2026, which commenced on Wednesday.

She noted that although intra-African trade had shown promise following the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), it still accounted for only a modest share of Africa’s total trade volume.

“We need to build the habits, incentives, and institutional discipline required to sustain our economic agreements and declarations over time. Continuity must be understood as an economic condition. Investors price it, businesses depend on it, and workers plan their lives around it,” the Vice President stated.

She further urged African countries to prioritise long-term economic goals, stressing that future assessments of the continent’s vision would be based on tangible outcomes.

“When our vision is assessed in the future, it will be judged by whether infrastructure projects were completed within reasonable time and cost, firms remained skilled and competitive, trade was cost-effective, faster and predictable, and whether institutions retained trust,” Vice President Opoku-Agyemang said.

For his part, the President of the Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, Carlos Vila Nova, said it was time for Africa to move from rhetoric to action in pursuit of its industrialisation agenda.

“What we rarely acknowledge is that time has now become Africa’s most expensive infrastructure deficit. Every year of delay compounds loss of effectiveness and confidence,” President Vila Nova observed.