Africa-Caribbean Trade Is Just 3% – It’s Time to Strengthen the Bond

By Farhia Noor

I am African. And last week, as I watched the historic Africa-Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit unfold, I felt both pride and pain.

Pride, because our leaders stood together – on one screen, on one stage – acknowledging a shared past and a common destiny. Pain, because one statistic shattered the moment: only 3 percent of CARICOM’s trade is with Africa.

Let that number sink in. Three percent.

Not 30. Not 13. Three.

This isn’t just a gap in trade data. It’s a glaring symptom of a deeper fracture – a legacy of colonial trade routes that still dictate how we move goods, money, and people.

We speak of unity, sing of emancipation, and wear African print with pride – but when it comes to commerce, we still route through London, Miami, and Paris to reach each other.

If Africa and the Caribbean are truly family, why do we trade like strangers?

A Family Divided by Design

The transatlantic slave trade severed our ancestral ties – but colonial economics ensured we never rebuilt them. Even after independence, our ports, policies, and currencies remained tethered to former empires.

We trade in dollars, settle in euros, and fly through third countries just to meet face to face.

We quote Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah while shipping Ghanaian cocoa to Amsterdam before it reaches Jamaica. We celebrate Pan-Africanism at summits – but sign trade deals with Europe before reaching across the Atlantic to our own.

This is not unity. This is inherited disconnection.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The Future We Can Build – Together

Imagine a world where:

• Ghanaian chocolate is stocked in supermarkets in Grenada
• Jamaican cocoa is processed in Lagos and exported globally
• Kenyan avocados reach St. Lucia in under 72 hours
• Tanzanian solar technology powers homes in Barbados
• Barbadian designers collaborate with Rwandan tech startups on Afro-futuristic fashion platforms

This isn’t a utopian dream. It’s a Pan-African trade revolution – one that’s already technically possible, economically viable, and morally urgent.

We have the tools. We have the people. We have the will. What we need now is action.

What Africa and the Caribbean Must Do – Now

1. Finalize the AU-CARICOM Trade and Investment Agreement
   Negotiations have begun. Let’s sign it – this year. Make it comprehensive, inclusive, and enforceable.
2. Launch Direct Air and Sea Corridors
   No more flying via Europe to meet. Establish weekly direct flights between Accra and Kingston, Lagos and Bridgetown. Develop dedicated shipping lanes with reduced tariffs and fast-tracked customs.
3. Trade in Our Own Currencies
   Leverage the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and Afreximbank to settle trade in African and Caribbean currencies – cutting out the dollar and reducing dependency on Western financial systems.
4. Empower the Diaspora with Access
   Offer land rights, business visas, and investment incentives for Caribbean returnees and African entrepreneurs in the diaspora. This is not charity – it’s co-ownership of our collective future.
5. Build Afro-Caribbean Digital Trade Platforms
   Create secure, localized e-commerce ecosystems where African textiles meet Caribbean tourism, and Caribbean music powers African streaming services.
6. Establish Joint Manufacturing and Innovation Hubs
   From agro-processing to fintech, from renewable energy to creative industries – build shared industrial zones that create jobs, retain value, and foster innovation.

Call to Leaders: Stop Symbolism. Start Strategy.

To African presidents: Wearing kente is powerful. But it means little if your trade policy still prioritizes Brussels over Bridgetown.

To Caribbean leaders: Your voice in international forums is vital – but your economic future lies eastward, across the Atlantic, not just north to Washington.

Pick up the phone. Call your counterpart in Addis Ababa or Port of Spain.

Co-host a joint summit. Fast-track the treaty. Build the bridge – before the next generation inherits the same broken system.

Call to the Youth: You Are the Bridge

You are coding, designing, farming, and creating in Accra, Kingston, Kigali, and Port-au-Prince.

You don’t need permission to start.

Build the app that connects farmers in Malawi to chefs in Trinidad & Tobago. Launch the fashion label that blends Maasai beadwork with Jamaican dancehall culture.

Start the logistics startup that ships Nigerian spices to Barbados in five days. You are not waiting. You are leading.

Call to the Diaspora: Return – Through Trade

You were displaced by force. But you are not forgotten.

Your return doesn’t have to be physical to be powerful. Invest. Mentor. Partner. Trade.

Buy shares in an Afro-Caribbean agri-tech venture. Fund a student exchange program. Source your products from both regions.

This is not charity. This is reconnection through equity.

When the Roots Are Connected, the Branches Do Not Drift

An African proverb says: “When the roots of a tree are connected, the branches will never drift apart.”

Africa and the Caribbean share the same roots – of resilience, resistance, and rebirth. Now is the time to let that connection grow upward – into trade, into innovation, into sovereignty.

The 3 percent must become 30 percent. Then 50 percent. Then the norm.

Because family doesn’t just share stories. Family shares economies.

Let’s build that future – together.

Farhia Noor is a seasoned business consultant based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. With a proven track record in developing enterprises and executing turnkey projects across both government and private sectors, she brings deep expertise to the table. Farhia is also a committed advocate for community-led development and is passionate about advancing sustainable, intra-African growth.