Second Afri-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum to be held in Guyana 30 October

President and chairman of the board of directors of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, has announced that the second edition of the Afri-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF), will take place in Guyana from Monday 30 to Tuesday 31 October 2023.

Professor Oramah disclosed this in his address at the maiden edition of the Global Africa Forum (GAF), organized by Africa Prosperity Network (APN) and the Africa-America Institute (AAI) on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday 21 September 2023.

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Export Barbados (BIDC) and Invest Barbados held the inaugural Afri-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF 2022), from 1 to 3 September 2022, in Bridgetown, Barbados and it was under the theme; “One People. One Destiny. Uniting and Reimagining Our Future”.

The ACTIF

The main focus of the ACTIF is to help strengthen relations between the private sectors of the two regions (Africa and the Caribbean) to advance trade and investment.

The maiden investment forum focused mainly on business-to-business engagements and panel discussions on several topics, including: accelerating industrialization and manufacturing, developing special economic zones (SEZs) and industrial parks, improving infrastructure, financing and trade logistics, including regional integration among others.

“Having extended a Treaty Partnership to the Caribbean, the Bank has opened a Caribbean office in Barbados to make it easier to deliver the 3 billion US dollars available limit approved by its Board. In the past two years, Afreximbank has led more than four trade missions from Africa to the Caribbean.

“The result is that today, African investors are beginning to make critical investments, with commitments to date in excess of 1.7 billion US dollars. An Egyptian company is developing fish processing facilities for re-export to Africa in four Eastern Caribbean Islands” Professor Benedict Oramah said.

“Port facilities development are under discussion in the Bahamas, Guyana, and St. Vincent and Grenadine; Geothermal Power Plants are about to commence in St Kits. Industrial parks are under discussion, to name but a few. Afri-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) was launched in Barbados last year. The second will be held in Guyana from 30-31 October 2023” he added.

PAPSS accepted by CARICOM

In his address, Professor Benedict Oramah, also indicated that Afreximbank’s Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) has been selected as the ideal payment tool for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). This development he said, will go a long way to improve trading activities between Africa and the Caribbean.

“For the first time, Caribbean countries will be exhibiting at the Intra-African Trade Fair to be held in Egypt from November 9 to 15 this year. Afreximbank’s Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) has been selected as the preferred regional payment system for the CARICOM, paving the way for easier payment and settlement in national currencies within Africa and between Africa and the CARICOM countries, while Afreximbank will help CARICOM to establish a regional Eximbank” Professor Oramah said.

“It is only Africa-owned and controlled financial institutions that can deliver these results. As many international banks exit Africa and the Caribbean, Afreximbank has stepped in to bridge the trade services and payment gap that have emerged.

“And beyond that, Afreximbank, through debt financing and equity investment through its wholly owned subsidiary, FEDA, is making it possible for strong African commercial banks to acquire the subsidiaries of the exiting international banks. The potential impact of this move will become apparent very shortly” he further remarked.

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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