The Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat Wamkele Mene has advocated strongly for the removal of trade barriers in Africa so that the dream of the establishment of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA would be achieved.

He noted that that vision had been grounded in the objective of the integration of African trade finance.

Describing Afreximbank and the AfCFTA as twins born 30 years apart, Mene noted that if trade barriers were eliminated but there was no trade finance, all the efforts would come to nothing. At the same time, if trade finance was available but trade barriers persisted and prevented trade, then all the efforts would still have been wasted.

Mene made these known at the official opening of the 30th Annual General Meetings of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Accra last Sunday.

Mr. Mene commended the support and collaboration which Afreximbank had provided for the implementation of the AfCFTA, including the introduction of the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund and the establishment of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPPS) which he has described the support as critical as Africa sought to rely on itself to create a better future.

He advocated this in his contribution that with the inclusion of a vision for an integrated African market in the founding treaty of the OAU, the founding fathers of the AU had foreseen the need for Afreximbank.

Various speakers at the Annual Meeting have highlighted the need for Africa to boost intra-African trade and integration in the face of the challenges resulting from the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the adverse economic challenges due to the Ukraine crisis and other global conflicts.

Mohamed Ahmed Maait, Minister of Finance of Egypt and Chairman of the Afreximbank Annual Meetings, who was represented by Gamal Negm, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, told participants that Africans must work collaboratively towards finding integrated solutions to the new challenges confronting the continent.

Mr. Maait lauded Afreximbank for playing a significant role in developing and implementing solutions to address the challenges confronting Africa and expressed the hope that AAM2023 would lead to even more constructive solutions to Africa’s problems, describing the Bank as one of the African institutions delivering on the African Union’s (AU) Vision 2063.

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr. Ernest Addison in his welcome remarks, said that Ghana represented the most appropriate venue for the celebration of Afreximbank’s 30th anniversary, 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.

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

He commended Afreximbank for the approach it adopted in its work which emphasized a collaborative approach in dealing with other continental institutions.

Delivering a keynote to kick off the first-panel session of the day, Mahamadou Issoufou, former President of Niger, said that with Africa accounting for a significant proportion of the world’s arable land, it was time for the continent to be able to feed itself, noting that a focus on agriculture and agro-industrialization would also lead to the creation of employment.

Mr. Issoufou commended Afreximbank for its support for the AfCFTA project, which had included supplying indispensable personnel, in addition to making investments, such as the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund to help countries adapt to the AfCFTA and improve their ability to compete in the new trade regime for which the Bank had already provided $1 billion.

Afreximbank had also launched PAPSS in order to allow for intra-African trade payments to be done in local currencies, he noted. It also introduced the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), a platform for exchange that Africa needed in order to meet the needs of the AfCFTA.

The morning also featured panel sessions on Turbo-charging implementation of the AfCFTA; Building prosperity for Africans: the challenges of peace and security; and What would it take for Africa to feed itself – overcoming the challenges of food security for sustainable development in Africa; as well as a conversation with Aliko Dangote, Group President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group.