1. What was signed, and by whom
On 31 August 2026 in Accra, the AfCFTA Secretariat and Quest Ghana Limited signed a joint venture agreement establishing the AfCFTA Digital Trade Corridor. The Republic of Seychelles provides sovereign support for the venture and will host its headquarters in Victoria. The signature follows a Memorandum of Understanding concluded in March 2026 and approval by the Cabinet of Seychelles in July.
2. What it is meant to build
Four capabilities, which the joint venture will design, develop and operate: a digital marketplace, cross-border interoperable payments, logistics, and trading, tracking and settlement services for minerals and commodities across the continent. The announcement also names the development of a digital African Minerals and Commodities Exchange and of a continental cross-border interoperable payment system.
3. Where it sits in the Agreement
Speaking in Accra, the Secretary-General described the agreement as establishing a formal legal relationship for the operationalisation of the Protocol on Digital Trade. The Agreement establishing the AfCFTA entered into force on 30 May 2019 and brings together the 55 Member States of the African Union in a single market of about 1.4 billion people with a combined GDP of approximately US$3.4 trillion. It is the largest free trade area in the world by number of participating countries.
4. The figures, and what each one measures
Quest Ghana Limited values the project at US$5.17 billion. Speaking in Accra, the Secretary-General described over US$5.1 billion of private sector investment mobilised with the support of government organisations, and said more would be needed: “we will require billions and billions of dollars, from private sector and from public sector, to invest in Africa’s digital infrastructure.” He separately put the cost of payments for intra-African trade at more than US$5 billion a year. The two figures of similar size are different quantities: one is investment raised once, the other a cost paid annually.
5. What it does not change
Exchange rate determination remains the mandate of national central banks. “We have not taken away the authority of the central banks to undertake that very important task,” the Secretary-General said in Accra, noting that twenty-one central banks already operate on the continental payment system and that each determines the rate itself. The infrastructure is to be designed, developed and operated by the joint venture. And the Corridor is not presented as the single answer: “we support a multiplicity of solutions to tackle this challenge of the cost of payments for intra-African trade,” the Secretary-General said.
