Ghana takes center stage at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan

Paul O. J. Asoamoah
Tokyo, Japan
October 30, 2025

T he Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry (MOTAI) and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) are leading the participation of Ghana in the 2025 Expo in Osaka in Japan. The Expo’s theme is ‟Designing future societies for our lives” and the event runs from April 13th to October 13th, 2025. Since the opening, the GIPC has organized business and investment fora to showcase Ghana’s economic potential and attract investments in key sectors like ICT, healthcare, agribusiness, tourism, and education. The Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovations, also present at the event, is promoting Ghana’s digital innovation capabilities and seeking international partnerships. Sampson Ahi, Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, leads the Ghanaian delegation as the country’s Commissioner-General for the Expo. The colorful and cultural expressions of the Ghanaian pavilion have attracted the media. Ghana has featured on Japan National TV (NTV) as well as Osaka TV (ABC News).

Origin of the World Expo

The first World Expo (called the Great-Exhibition)–took place in London in 1851. Since then, the concept has become popular and has taken place in different countries across the globe. World Expos organizes events around a theme. In the past, each event promoted ‟human and social aspirations” and also ‟scientific, technological, economic and social progress” according to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) ². Today, World Expos have become international events and expanded in terms of size, scale, duration, and visitor numbers. They serve as platforms for education and progress and also as a bridge between governments, companies, international organizations, and citizens. The theme of the Osaka World Expo, attempts to capture the historical spirit of this event.

Ghana has been an active participant at World Expos over the past two decades. At the Shanghai Expo in 2010, the Ghana pavilion featured cultural activities, economic potential, and conferences. In 2015, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama addressed a Ghana-Italy Business Forum as part of the activities for the Ghana Day celebration ³. In 2020 in Dubai, Ghana showcased its culture and economic potential. The show reached its climax with the celebration of the national day on March 8th, 2020, in the Ghana pavilion.

Showcasing Ghana’s culture and business opportunities

The Japanese media reports that 500 to 1,000 visitors passed through the pavilion every day. Ghana’s organic cocoa and chocolate, cultural exhibits (beads, Kente cloth, made in Ghana bags) and entertainment (music and arts) are the attractions of the pavilion. But Ghana is also organizing business meetings and investment fora to promote its extractive industries, manufacturing, technology and agriculture sectors.

The tourism is an emerging contributor to Ghana's gross domestic product (GDP). The sector attracted 1.3 million tourists in 2024 (an increase of 12 percent compared to the previous year) earning the country US$4.82 billion. But Japanese visitors do not feature in the 2024 tourism report of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts. Ghanaian authorities see this as an opportunity. Distance and a lack of direct air travel routes between Ghana and Japan constitute two major obstacles to mass tourism from Japan. But cultural interaction, ecotourism, business travels are unique selling points and niche proposals to the Japanese public.

Ghana: an investment destination

Ghana’s Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare has urged Japanese businesses and global investors to take advantage of Ghana’s growing investment potential as the country undergoes a deliberate economic transformation. The minister made the call on Thursday, 11th September, 2025, during a keynote address at the Ghana Business and Investment Forum. The minister said that Ghana is the perfect entry point in West Africa for Japanese investors. Ghana has mineral resources and is the head quarter of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which makes it the ideal launchpad into the 1.4 billion African consumer market.

Ghana intends to expand the economic relationship with Japan through industrial ventures in agro-processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, textiles and apparel, automotive and electric mobility, and green industries. ‟Ghana is not simply inviting investment; we are inviting partnerships to co-create industries, co-develop markets, and co-deliver solutions that will benefit Africa and the world”, she stated during her address.

Over the past decade, Ghanaian and Japanese authorities have multiplied initiatives aimed at expanding economic and commercial relations with Japan. The two countries established Ghana-Japan Business Promotion Committee (GJBPC) in December 2019 to strengthen bilateral trade and investment relations between the two nations. The Prime Minister of Japan, Kishida Fumio, visited Ghana in April, 2023 to foster this cooperation. On August 20, 2025, one hundred Japanese companies attended the Presidential Investment Forum organized by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GPIC) in Yokohama. This forum took place on the sidelines of the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-9). The Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO) declared that the forum served as a strategic platform to deepen Ghana-Japan economic relations.

Ghana exports cocoa, gold, and coffee to Japan, while the latter supplies automotive, industrial, and consumer goods. Ghana’s export of cocoa and fish totaled US$395 million in 2022. From Japan, brands like Toyota, Nissan, and Honda are highly popular in Ghana. In 2022, the total value of automobile exports from Japan to Ghana was about US$600 million while industrial and manufacturing machinery reached US$150 million the same year. Electronics and telecommunications equipment import from Japan reached US$130 million in 2022. In 2023, this trade value added to a loan of US$927.7 million, grants of US$914.6 million and US$457.2 million in technical cooperation.

In 2023, export from Ghana to Japan reached US$134.2 million (cacao beans, aluminum including alloys and others), while imports from Japan totaled US$96,2 (motor vehicles, rubber products including tires, artificial fiber, construction, and mining machineries). In 2024, 279 Japanese lived and worked in Ghana. Data from Japan show that 2,369 mostly students live in Japan.

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