Malawi firms beckoned to Africa’s trade fair in Algeria

Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) executive vice-president for Intra-African Trade Bank, Kanayo Awani, has encouraged African firms including those from Malawi to participate at the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Algeria next year as they ‘will reap big results’.

The trade fair, organised in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, will take place from 4 to 10 September 2025 in Algiers, Algeria.

Awani said the previous trade fair held in Cairo, Egypt last year saw firms directly benefiting from trade and investment deals worth more than $43 billion.

 She said: “The trade fair is a meaningful backbone for trade and investment. Deals of close to $43 billion dollars were closed which means African buyers found new buyers. And new deals were forged.”

Awani said this on Monday during the signing ceremony of the hosting agreement for the IATF 2025.

The Afreximbank executive said next year’s fair is expected to attract more than 35 000 visitors, buyers and conference delegates from all 55 African countries, the Diaspora and the rest of the world.

Awani said efforts by Afreximbank to boost trade through the trade fair has come at a time of increasing risks for African trade from global protectionism.

“One of the objectives of the trade fair is to have African countries look to their neighbours. A total of $120 billion dollars have been concluded over the last three trade fairs,” she said.

On his part, Algiers Minister of Trade Tayeb Zitouni said, his country of more than 44 million people, offers various opportunities for trade and investment which will be showcased during the trade fair.

 “This is the first time for Algeria to sign this agreement that we have signed today and this implies more collaboration with African countries going forward,” he said.

Zitouni further said the Algerian Government has been pushing for reforms to strengthen the private sector and to boost local businesses.

Intra-African Trade Fair chairperson of the Advisory Council, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also former President of Nigeria, said the IATF meeting had emerged as a ‘marketplace’ and ‘go-to event’ for trade players and policymakers in Africa.

He said the implementation of the AfCFTA represented the fourth stage of Africa’s liberation.

“The IATF is now the foremost event of economic, social and even policy in Africa,” said Obasanjo.

He said increased intra-African trade will end the harmful trend of African countries exporting primary goods to other continents only to import them as manufactured goods.

“This is a huge opportunity cost for the African continent which the intra-African trade fair seeks to correct. We need information about products and markets and we need to have infrastructure that will make it possible to trade more among ourselves.

“I’m sure the IATF 2025 will be bigger and better and more appreciated than all the three we’ve had so far. It will improve and make possible trader transactions between African countries and the Arab world,” said Obasanjo.

Next year’s meeting is expected to provide a platform to share trade, investment and market information with stakeholders and allows participants to discuss and identify solutions to the challenges confronting intra-African trade and investment.

In addition to African participants, the fair is also open to businesses and investors from non-African countries interested in doing business in Africa and in supporting the continent’s transformation through industrialisation and export development.

Algeria will become the third country to host the IATF after Egypt hosted the inaugural edition in Cairo in 2018.

The second edition was held in Durban, South Africa, in 2021 and thereafter the trade fair returned to Cairo for the 2023 edition.