The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has called on Africa to remove administrative obstacles, simplify licensing and land access, and provide reliable infrastructure to attract investors.
She said investors should not have to visit ten offices for permits, noting that economic processing or special economic zones, including models in Benin, can offer electricity, water, permits and ready-to-use factories for rent.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala made the remarks on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, during a press briefing at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, on the sidelines of a seminar for journalists from developing and least-developed countries, including The Gambia.
The seminar, which runs from October 27 to 30, 2026, is being held during the 2026 Aid for Trade Global Review Week. It is organised and funded by the WTO Secretariat in collaboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), and brings together selected journalists from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe to strengthen understanding of global trade, multilateralism and trade-related development issues.
Speaking at the briefing, the WTO chief said Africa must trade more with itself. Intra-African trade stands at around 20%, compared with about 60% within the European Union, she said. Trade costs in Africa remain too high, partly due to bureaucracy and inadequate infrastructure, but she noted that the continent can lower them and some countries are already showing progress.
She explained that Aid for Trade was founded on the belief that trade must become more inclusive, as developing and poorer countries often lack the resources, knowledge and means to access markets and integrate into the global trading system.
Technical assistance and training, she said, help countries understand export requirements and WTO agreements and implement them. Physical infrastructure, logistics, trade finance and supply-chain finance are equally important.
Over approximately twenty years, around US$780 billion has been disbursed or mobilized under Aid for Trade, she revealed.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said the global trading environment is under severe strain from tariffs and disruptions linked to conflicts and shipping routes, including the Black Sea, Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz. These are among the most serious challenges to the global trading system in decades, yet the system has proved resilient.
Before the recent tariff actions, about 80% of world trade took place on WTO terms; the figure is now about 72%, she said.
Global goods trade has also performed better than forecast. Last year, growth initially forecast at 2.4% reached 4.2%, while this year's projection was raised from 1.9% to 3.9%, after trade growth in the first half reached around 3.5%.
Almost half of the growth in global goods trade this year is being driven by AI-related goods, including processors, semiconductors and equipment used to build data centers and the AI ecosystem.
"A WTO study suggests AI could increase global trade by 40% by 2040, provided its benefits are inclusive. There is concern that investment and growth in other sectors are being crowded out. The challenge is to make AI-driven growth inclusive and sustainable," she said.
Responding to questions, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said Africa's share of global trade has remained slightly below 3% for a long time, which is not good enough, and the continent must be more integrated.
"Africa must ensure that it is not left behind by AI. But African countries must also ask what they themselves need to change, rather than depending solely on outside assistance," she noted.
