CACT Blog
What the Senate, Export Development Canada and the Government of Canada are saying about trade with Africa and the Caribbean — with a close eye on Senator Amina Gerba’s work — and why it matters for our diaspora business community.
17 posts
The minister opened Canada’s embassy in Cotonou and announced about $85 million across Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and West Africa, plus talks on an expanded air transport agreement.
Meeting in Panama City, ministers set three pillars — competitive economies, climate action and regional security — and pointed to CARIBCAN duty-free access as a trade lever.
With the Africa envoy’s future unclear and no government response yet to the Senate’s December report, Senator Gerba told The Canadian Press Canada is falling behind its G7 peers.
Senator Amina Gerba pressed the Government Representative on a Canada–Morocco free trade agreement, after talks between 2011 and 2013 ended without a deal.
The motion asks Ottawa to mark May 25 each year and to take a first step toward adding World Africa Day to Canada’s calendar of national days.
Ministers Anand and Sarai met AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, linking Africa’s priority sectors to Canadian expertise and naming the diaspora as a commercial bridge.
Prepared by ESG UQAM, the report finds $2.47 billion in 2025 exports to Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Cameroon — and a path to $6–8 billion.
Testifying on Canada’s trade with North and West Africa, Senator Amina Gerba called for Africa in the diversification strategy, revised EDC risk tools, high-level missions and a diaspora fund.
EDC’s Trade Confidence Index shows exporters leaving U.S.-only strategies behind. Latin America and the Caribbean draw 20% of exporters, the Middle East and Africa 17%.
Stuart Bergman points to ports, power and mining-linked infrastructure from Senegal to Nigeria — and says Canada should compete on reliability, not scale.
The Cameroonian-born entrepreneur behind Forum Africa now sits on the Senate foreign affairs committee. Her three Senate priorities, in her own words.
One office, about 1% of business facilitated: what the Senate learned about Export Development Canada in Africa, and how it compares with the Caribbean and Latin America.
The Senate foreign affairs committee’s Africa report makes 21 recommendations, from a funded action plan to free trade talks, stronger EDC support and a diaspora advisory body.
At the Senate foreign affairs committee, Senator Amina Gerba asked Global Affairs Canada why the Africa Strategy still has no dedicated budget or public implementation plan.
In an op-ed republished by the Senate, Senator Amina Gerba argues that the tariff crisis is the moment to commit to Africa — and points to Japan and Italy as models.
Ottawa’s first continent-wide Africa Strategy pairs a trade hub, special envoys and a diaspora mechanism with $869.5 million in assistance projects.
The first Canada-CARICOM Summit held in Canada launched a permanent Strategic Partnership, widened duty-free access to textiles and apparel, and called for engaging the Caribbean diaspora.
Editorial analysis by CACT. Not an official Government of Canada, Senate or EDC publication.