Afreximbank’s meet opens,urges more intra-African trade

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) 30th Annual General Meetings opened in Accra, Ghana on Sunday with speakers highlighting the need for the continent to boost intra-African trade and integration.

In his opening address, Minister of Finance of Egypt Mohamed Ahmed Maait, speaking on behalf of Gamal Negm, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, and chairperson of the Afreximbank annual meetings, said Africans must work collaboratively towards finding integrated solutions to the new challenges confronting the continent.

He said: “I thank Afreximbank for playing a significant role in developing and implementing solutions to address the challenges confronting Africa and I hope that the annual gathering would lead to even more constructive solutions to Africa’s problems.”

Bank of Ghana Governor Ernest Yedu Addison said his country represented the most appropriate venue for the meeting, given the bank’s role in developing and promoting African trade and the fact that Ghana was the home of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.

“Afreximbank had been very supportive of Ghana and has, over the years, provided more than two billion dollars to support the Ghanaian economy,” he said.

Addison commended Afreximbank for the approach it adopted in its work which emphasised on collaborative approach in dealing with other continental institutions.

The opening session featured panel sessions on turbo-charging implementation of the AfCFTA, building prosperity for Africans, the challenges of peace and security and what it would take for Africa to feed itself, among other topics.

Egypt-based Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade.

The annual meetings are expected to end tommorrow.