1st round of African Trade Fair in Egypt to kick off in December

CAIRO – 3 June 2018: The African Export and Import Bank (Africimbank) launched the first phase of preparations for the Inter-African Trade Fair to be held for the first time from December 11-17, 2018 in Egypt, in cooperation with the African Union and the Export Development Authority represented by the Egyptian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

In a conference on Saturday former Nigerian President Osijen Abag stated that Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are among the countries with great potential to grow and lead the transition in Africa.

Abag added that the three countries are able to activate the African Free Trade Agreement, which needs great efforts to expand its scope and include more African countries in it.

Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil also stressed the importance of the African Free Trade Area Agreement (FTAA), which is a major step towards regional integration, affirming that this agreement will lead to an increase in the volume of trade among African countries by 52 percent.

Kabil said that the African Trade Fair, to be hosted by Egypt in December, is the first of its kind in Africa, which is an important step for the exchange of information and investment and market opportunities among African countries.

It is worth mentioning that Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank said that the bank would invest as much as $25 billion in Africa over the next five years to boost trade between the countries of the continent, stressing that the lack of information on markets and companies is one of the main obstacles to intra-trade.