Canada launches its first Africa Strategy — what it promises for trade

On March 6, 2025, in Toronto, three federal ministers — Mélanie Joly (Foreign Affairs), Mary Ng (Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development) and Ahmed Hussen (International Development) — launched Canada’s Africa Strategy: A Partnership for Shared Prosperity and Security. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) describes it as Canada’s first global strategy for the continent.

The document is aligned with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and, according to GAC, was developed over two years of consultations with Canadian, African and international stakeholders. It organizes Canada’s engagement around five lines of effort.

• Mutually beneficial economic opportunities, including job creation, infrastructure development and sustainable growth.
• Partnership on peace and security, from conflict prevention to countering transnational crime.
• Sustainable development, including youth skills training, health and the trade–development nexus.
• Shared priorities on the international stage, including climate change.
• Diplomatic and people-to-people ties, explicitly including African diaspora communities in Canada.

The trade toolkit

For business, the most concrete announcements were institutional. Minister Ng announced a new pan-Africa trade hub and more private-sector engagement. GAC said it would develop a new Africa trade and development program, and that Canada planned to open a FinDev Canada office in South Africa. Ben Marc Diendéré, Canada’s Permanent Observer to the African Union, was named Special Envoy for Africa with a mandate that includes promoting trade, and Marcel Lebleu, Canada’s Ambassador to Senegal, became Special Envoy for the Sahel.

On the diplomatic side, the strategy committed to a full high commission in Zambia, a full embassy in Benin and a new diaspora-engagement mechanism. The Benin embassy was officially opened in Cotonou in August 2026, during a visit by Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.

Money on the table — and what was not

Minister Hussen announced more than $869.5 million for over 50 international and humanitarian assistance projects, and Minister Joly announced more than $25.7 million for peace and security projects. GAC also noted that Canada had invested roughly $4.5 billion in bilateral assistance programming in Africa over the previous five years. The release did not attach a dedicated budget envelope to the trade measures themselves — a gap that senators, including Senator Amina Gerba, would press the government on in the months that followed.

Why it matters for the CACT community

The strategy names diaspora communities as partners rather than an afterthought. For Canadian African businesses, the trade hub, the special envoys and the diaspora mechanism are the three doors worth knocking on: they are the channels through which market intelligence, introductions and mission invitations are now meant to flow. The practical test is whether those channels come with staff and budgets — something this blog will keep tracking.