Japan, the world’s fifth-largest economy, is directing investments into Ghana’s electronics, automotive and logistics sectors, with prospects for future collaboration in artificial intelligence and robotics.

Yoshimoto Hiroshi, Japan’s Ambassador to Ghana, and Niloy Banerjee, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative to Ghana, highlighted these developments at a capacity-building workshop in Accra on trade and investment opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

According to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade), Japanese companies invested more than US$152 million in Ghana between 2000 and 2024, with bilateral trade expanding by 24 per cent from 2020 to 2024.

The three-day workshop, on the theme: “Unlocking Trade and Investment Opportunities in the context of the AfCFTA,” sensitised Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to the benefits and challenges of intra-African trade.

“Japan sees strong potential for partnership in agro-processing, light manufacturing, digital and green innovation, and SME upgrading to integrate into regional and global value chains,” Ambassador Yoshimoto said,

He described Ghana’s investment climate as increasingly attractive and called for enhanced mechanisms to unlock the full potential of the AfCFTA, noting that Ghana’s leadership in financial services and regulatory frameworks positioned it to attract long-term Japanese investment.

Ambassador Yoshimoto underscored Japan’s philosophy of ‘Kaizen’-continuous improvement in productivity, quality and skills-as a guiding principle for collaboration. “Capacity building is not an accessory to economic transformation; it is one of its foundations,” he said.

Mr Banerjee told the Ghana News Agency that Ghana’s political stability, educated workforce and improving infrastructure maade it an attractive hub for Japanese investment in West Africa.

“Japan is a manufacturing and trading superpower; it’s the fifth largest economy in the world and this is a very good sign that Japan is investing in Ghana.

“It shows that there is investor confidence in Ghana because of its political stability, educated workforce and more good infrastructure.

“The port is coming along the roads are getting better, electricity, etc. So, it becomes quite attractive for the West African region for Japanese investments to come in and make their base here,” he said.

Mr Banerjee, however, said, “we are not leveraging AfCFTA fully yet,” and encouraged strengthened partnerships and continuous support for SMEs.

Mr Benjamin Kwaku Asiam, Acting Coordinator of Ghana’s AfCFTA National Coordination Office, said about 25 African countries had domesticated and gazetted the agreement into national law.

“Agreements are agreements – if we don’t empower SMEs to move, it will just remain on the shelves. Capacity building is very important for SMEs to be able to equip themselves to take advantage of the single African market,” he said.