African Export-Import Bank (“Afreximbank”) (www.Afreximbank.com) is pleased to announce the launch of an innovative capacity development program designed to empower African corporates to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
This initiative, spearheaded by Afreximbank Academy (AFRACAD) in collaboration with the AfCFTA Secretariat, aims to equip businesses with the necessary skills and knowledge to navigate and thrive in the evolving intra-African trade landscape.
Scheduled to run from 9 to 13 September 2024 in Cairo, Egypt, the training programme which will be delivered in collaboration with the American University in Cairo and the AfCFTA Secretariat will focus on the business implications of AfCFTA and the numerous opportunities which the Agreement presents for African corporates. It will also equip members of Afreximbank’s TRADAR Club and other participants with practical insights to enable them to leverage the benefits and opportunities presented by the Agreement. Additionally, it will help translate the various treaty instruments of the AfCFTA into practical language that corporates can easily understand. It will also provide an exposé on the requirements businesses must meet to seize opportunities of the continually expanding AfCFTA market.
Commenting on the programme, Dr. Yemi Kale, the Group Chief Economist&Managing Director of Research at Afreximbank, highlighted the importance of creating the requisite competencies and capacity for local industrial activities to enable all African countries to benefit from the single market arrangements offered by the AfCFTA.
Dr. Kale said, “Afreximbank is a key supporter of the implementation of the AfCFTA whose focus is on transforming Africa from a fractured, commodity-dependent group of economies to a vibrant, integrated single market of about 2 billion people with a combined GDP of about US$3.4 trillion. In this regard, we believe that well-informed and prepared businesses are key to driving intra- and extra-African trade and investment. Through this training program, which is one of the numerous capacity building initiatives the Bank has put in place to promote intra- and extra-African trade and investments, we aim to empower African businesses to fully exploit the vast opportunities created by the AfCFTA, thereby enhancing their competitiveness and contributing to sustainable economic growth in Africa.”
Commenting on the programme, Mr. Tsotetsi Makong, Head of Capacity Building and Technical Assistance at the AfCFTA Secretariat emphasized the importance of capacity building for the successful implementation of the AfCFTA. Mr. Makong stressed the importance of ensuring a value chain approach to capacity building by first prioritizing human resources competences, fit for purpose administrative procedures and processes, translation of the AfCFTA into national and regional regulatory infrastructure, fostering predictable institutional framework across state institutions involved in facilitating and executing trade transactions and ensuring that trade transactions are underpinned by requisite hard and soft infrastructure. He said: “Investing in capacity building for the Corporates and SMEs will ensure that home sourced investments are mobilized and deficits with third country markets reduced, proving the AfCFTA to be the single most important instrument that de-risks the African continent in its entirety when it comes to investments.”
While the AfCFTA has immense potential to support economic development, a lack of understanding of the technical nuances relating to the interpretation of the Agreement is impeding the full actualisation of its benefits. Some enterprises are also not able to fully take advantage of the Agreement or to compete with the influx of new competitors from other regions.
The training programme will, therefore, focus on removing the hurdles in the business environment as well as tackling the capacity constraints of African companies in order to support the transition from the current model of local production for local consumption to a model that ensures local production for the continental and international export markets.
Participants in the programme include African corporates (mainly importers and exporters), trade support institutions (including trade promoting organisations, chambers of commerce and investment promotion agencies), export trading companies, the foreign trade community (including investors), and bank executives.
The training programme was conceptualised by Afreximbank, which will also manage the implementation and other related activities with the American University in Cairo and the AfCFTA Secretariat as implementing partners.
For more details and to register for the training program, please click here (https://apo-opa.co/3WhFajd).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.
Media Contact:
Vincent Musumba
Manager, Communications and Events (Media Relations)
Email: press@afreximbank.com
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About AFRACAD:
The Afreximbank Academy (AFRACAD) is the proprietary corporate academy of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). AFRACAD is a centre of excellence for capacity building in trade and the go-to hub for Afrocentric knowledge and African trade expertise. It provides high impact learning solutions that cover trade and project finance, industrial capacity, innovation, leadership, trade language, and Knowledge and networking.
About Afreximbank:
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of December 2023, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$37.3 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$6.1 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
For more information, visit: www.Afreximbank.com
About the AfCFTA Secretariat:
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a flagship project of Agenda 2063 of the African Union – Africa’s own development vision. The immediate implementation of the AfCFTA will provide quick wins that impact on socio-economic development and enhance confidence and the commitment of Africans as the owners and drivers of Agenda 2063. The AfCFTA aims at accelerating intra-African trade and boosting Africa’s trading position in the global market by strengthening Africa’s common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations.
For more information: www.AU-AfCFTA.org
Trade Intelligence Solutions:
Trade Intelligence Solutions was conceived by Afreximbank to address one of the barriers to intra-African trade – lack of comprehensive African trade and investment information. Inadequate and the often-fragmented data on trade, market opportunities, and even customs procedures, can increase the cost of doing business in Africa, and this makes it more likely that African businesses will choose to trade with entities outside the region. In response, Trade Intelligence Solutions combines innovative technologies and trusted advisory services to form a powerful intelligence solution that informs our clients’ strategic decisions. The Trade Intelligence Solutions Unit of the Afreximbank Research Division (https://apo-opa.co/4bIviTU) provides strategic trade advisory services to clients that are seeking to enter new markets in Africa or expand into the continent. We also advise clients in Africa who want to expand elsewhere. The team is integrated across all the major regions in Africa and consists of people with in-depth knowledge of the continent, unrivalled trade expertise, strong relationship with key government officials and diverse range of influential stakeholders.