Fifth Africa Prosperity Dialogues Launched in Accra

The fifth Africa Prosperity Dialogues will ask a practical question: what would it take to make Africa genuinely borderless? The 2027 edition was launched in Accra under the theme “The Borderless Africa We Want: Move Freely. Pay Seamlessly. Trade More.”

The event will run from January 27 to 29, 2027, at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City. Organizers moved it from the Accra International Conference Centre because that facility is closed for refurbishment. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, founder and executive chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network, said the hotel was familiar to organizers and often hosted dignitaries attending the dialogues.

The change comes with a sharp limit on attendance. The hotel can hold about 1,000 people, while the previous edition drew approximately 6,400 participants from 94 countries over three days. Participants will therefore undergo pre-registration and vetting before their attendance is confirmed. Registration is expected to open on September 7, 2026, and, unlike previous editions, attendees will pay a fee to help support the event and manage the limited number of spaces.

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As we speak, only four countries have ratified that protocol, and Ghana is not part of it.

Otchere-Darko said African countries needed to move beyond agreements and discussion and take concrete steps toward integration. He cited the Abuja Treaty and the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, as well as the African Union Free Movement Protocol adopted in 2018 to allow Africans to travel across the continent without visas.

That protocol has not taken effect because only four countries have ratified it: Rwanda, Niger, Mali and São Tomé and Príncipe. At least 15 African Union member states must ratify it. “As we speak, only four countries have ratified that protocol, and Ghana is not part of it,” Otchere-Darko said. He expressed hope that Ghana would ratify it when President John Dramani Mahama becomes African Union chairman next year, adding, “We are hoping that with our President becoming Chairman of the African Union from next year, it will give him the impetus to lead by ratification.”

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We are hoping that with our President becoming Chairman of the African Union from next year, it will give him the impetus to lead by ratification.