President Mahama Targets $10bn in Non-Traditional Exports by 2030 With Inauguration of Accelerated Export Development Committee
President John Dramani Mahama has unveiled an ambitious target to grow Ghana’s non-traditional export (NTE) earnings from the current $3.5 billion to $10 billion annually by 2030, through the operationalisation of the newly inaugurated Accelerated Export Development Committee (AEDC).
The 18-member presidential committee, officially launched on Monday, May 5, 2025, forms a critical component of the government’s broader export-led economic growth strategy. The AEDC will serve as the apex coordinating body responsible for ensuring policy coherence, institutional alignment, and strategic direction in the country’s export development agenda.
Delivering remarks at the inauguration ceremony, President Mahama emphasised the committee’s pivotal mandate and the urgency of reorienting Ghana’s export base.
“The AEDC has been established to serve as a high-level platform for strategic coordination, policy coherence, and institutional accountability in our export development efforts. Our strategy is ambitious but deliberate,” the President stated.
He noted that the committee’s work will be guided by three key frameworks — the Accelerated Export Development Programme, the Advisory Committee, and the National Export Development Strategy — all aimed at transitioning Ghana from a raw-material-exporting economy to a value-added, export-driven one.
“Ghana’s current exports remain dominated by low-complexity raw materials such as gold, cocoa, cashew, and timber, mostly in their raw state. We must change this narrative,” President Mahama said, highlighting the imperative of economic diversification and industrialisation.
As part of efforts to improve the enabling environment for trade, the President also announced a suite of infrastructure and logistics interventions designed to reduce export costs and enhance efficiency.
“Ghana’s exporters face some of the highest logistics costs in West Africa, and our export clearance times exceed regional averages. We will therefore modernize our ports, revamp the Volta Lake Transport Company, develop the Mpakadan Port, operationalize the Bankra Inland Port, and expand the cold chain infrastructure to support our fisheries and horticultural sectors,” he said.
These logistical enhancements, he noted, are critical to reducing post-harvest losses, improving transport connectivity from the hinterlands, and strengthening the global competitiveness of Ghanaian exports.
