By: Staff Writer
November 6, 2026
The International Trade Centre (ITC) in a new report said that trade between Africa and the Caribbean has the potential to reach $1.65 billion by 2030.
The report, “Reshaping Africa–Caribbean Trade: Opportunities for economic transformation,” also said: “Africa’s goods export potential in the Caribbean is estimated at $539 million annually, of which only about 20 percent is currently realized, leaving approximately 80 percent untapped. The Caribbean’s goods export potential in Africa is estimated at $499 million, with about 82 percent already realized.”
The “Strengthening AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment” project, implemented by ITC and funded by Afreximbank in 2024, had an objective to enhance trade and investment between Africa and the Caribbean.
Despite shared history and culture, trade relations are minimal, with only 0.1 percent of African exports going to the Caribbean and less than one percdent of Caribbean exports reaching Africa.
The project sought to bridge this gap by focusing on three key pillars: updating the AfriCaribbean Export Potential Study, assessing the impact of the AfriCaribbean Trade Agreement, and supporting the establishment of a new AfriCaribbean business network.
By developing market intelligence products and providing capacity-building support, the project will help create a robust business support ecosystem, fostering increased cooperation and trade between the two regions.
The report also said: “Services add a further significant opportunity: the Caribbean has an estimated $481 million in services export potential in Africa, led by travel, while Africa has $131 million in the Caribbean, led by transport. These findings underscore both the scale of the opportunity and the need for targeted action to translate export potential into sustained commercial flows.”
In a typical African society, their familial ties mean that they can travel many miles to visit a relative without prior arrangement or notice and still be received with familiar hospitality.
In that same spirit, cooperation between relatives separated by oceans should occur naturally, free from prohibitive rules, procedures, and constraints. “Yet Africa–Caribbean traffic, whether it is people, trade, or investments, remains limited and concentrated, inhibited by certain structural barriers – barriers we create and can remove if we choose to,” the report also said.