All is set for the maiden edition of the African Diplomacy and Business Dialogue (AfDiB 2025), scheduled to take place in Accra on September 3, 2025. The event, hosted by Salt University College (SUC), will be held at the premises of the Association of African Universities (AAU) under the theme: “Harnessing African Diplomacy for the Success of AfCFTA.”
The dialogue seeks to promote discussions and initiatives that will support the effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It will also serve as a platform for networking among government agencies, diplomatic missions, trade organizations, academic institutions, businesses, and individuals.
Professor Lord Mawuko Yevugah, Associate Professor of Political Economy and International Relations at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), will deliver the keynote address. A panel discussion will follow, featuring Dr. Emmanuel Dei-Tumi, Executive Director of the Africa Future Leaders Institute of Global Affairs (AFLIGA), and Ms. Helen Appiah-Ampofo, a broadcast journalist with TV3.
The AfCFTA Agreement, adopted in Kigali in March 2018 and entering into force in May 2019, has gained wide acceptance across Africa. As of February 2025, 54 out of 55 African Union Member States had signed, while 48 had ratified it. The agreement is expected to create a single market for 1.4 billion people with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion.
Experts predict AfCFTA will remove tariffs on 90 percent of goods, increase intra-African trade by over 50 percent, and encourage value-added production, boosting industrial growth and job creation.
SUC, host of the event, was founded in 2003 and accredited in 2018 as a tertiary institution. It currently attracts students from over ten African countries.