Trade between Ghana and the United Kingdom has exceeded GBP1.6 billion, but there is still “significant” scope to expand commerce and investment, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, Alastair Long, said.
Speaking at the UK-Ghana Trade and Investment Summit 2026, organised by the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC), Long said the existing relationship provided a firm basis for closer economic cooperation.
The summit, themed “A Decade of Trust, A Future Always On: Scaling the UK-Ghana Growth Partnership,” is examining how the two countries can increase trade across a range of sectors while ensuring that commercial growth creates jobs, investment and sustainable livelihoods.
Long identified Ghanaian agricultural exports, including mangoes and bananas, as an important part of the relationship. He said there was an opportunity to increase the volume of Ghanaian goods entering the UK, while creating more opportunities for British companies to invest and grow in Ghana.
He added that technology, services, agriculture and investment would become increasingly important alongside traditional trade. The success of the partnership, he said, should be judged not only by the value of trade but also by the jobs and wider economic opportunities it generates.
Calls for investment and industrial growth
Delivering a keynote address on behalf of Vice President, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the Deputy Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Hon. Sampson Ahi, described the summit as a significant stage in the UK-Ghana economic relationship.
He said it could help turn a decade of cooperation into investment with a direct impact on the economy.
Ghana recorded 6 per cent GDP growth in 2025, while the economy grew by a further 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, Ahi said.
“These numbers tell every investor in this room that Ghana is predictable, Ghana is stable, and Ghana is ready,” he stated.
UK foreign direct investment in Ghana has reached GBP1.8 billion, supporting more than 670 projects and creating over 44,000 jobs, according to Ahi. He also pointed to the UK-Ghana Growth Partnership for 2026-2028, recently signed as a framework for unlocking investment and accelerating industrial development.
Ahi called for greater cooperation in manufacturing, logistics, agro-processing, healthcare and the digital economy. He urged investors to make use of Ghana’s strategic location, expanding workforce and preferential access to African markets through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“Bring your technology. Bring your patient capital. Bring your demand for quality and sustainability. In return, we offer a stable policy environment, a government that listens, and a people whose ingenuity has never been in short supply,” he said.
Ghana High Commissioner to the UK and Republic of Ireland, Sabah Zita Benson, said the next phase of the relationship should focus on investment, value addition, technology transfer, skills development and job creation.
She said Ghana’s position in West Africa and its hosting of the AfCFTA Secretariat offered UK companies access to the wider African market. Benson also urged closer business-to-business links, greater support for SMEs and stronger involvement from the Ghanaian diaspora in the UK.
“The next decade of UK-Ghana economic relations should consequently be defined not simply by the volume of trade between our countries, but by the quality and impact of our partnerships, the businesses we build, the jobs we create, the skills we develop, the technologies we transfer, and the prosperity we generate together,” she said.
The UKGCC is marking its 10th anniversary. Executive Director Adjoba Kyiamah said its three-day summit, now in its second consecutive year, aimed to turn policy alignment into commercially viable private-sector investment.
She said Ghanaian businesses could use the UK to access capital, expertise, markets and global networks as they expanded internationally.
The summit is supported by GCB Bank PLC, PwC Ghana LTD., Ghana Jobs for Economic Transformation (JET), Fidelity Bank Ghana LTD., Ecobank Ghana PLC, Vivo Energy Ghana LTD., Quao Realty, DMA Invest, Aqua Africa, Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC, UniChem Ghana LTD. and Kasapreko PLC, with The Business Year as media partner.
