The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a partner of the first-ever AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum, will be held on the Caribbean island of Barbados at its Caricom office, which will open in seven months. The Bank’s Board has approved the venue.
The forum took place in September 2022 and was organized by Afreximbank, in collaboration with the Government of Barbados, and others. It included a nonstop flight from Nigeria to Barbados carrying bank employees, businesspeople, and ministerial representatives.
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The Partnership Agreement was signed by and between Afreximbank and CARICOM Member States with the intention of enhancing trade and investment ties between Africa and the Caribbean. Its operation is to be supported by the Afreximbank CARICOM Office.
In accordance with the press release, the Agreement has been approved by 10 of the 15 CARICOM Member States. This accords the signatories with a status similar to that of the cooperating states in Africa. As part of its Diaspora Strategy and in accordance with the African Union’s identification of the African Diaspora as Africa’s sixth area, it centralizes the Bank’s measures to encourage and enhance South-South commerce, notably trade between Africa and the Caribbean.
The Board of Directors of Afreximbank authorized a US$1.5 billion loan ceiling for qualifying CARICOM States after the Partnership Agreement was established, promising to extend it to US$3 billion.
The funding will be used to support economic sectors that have been identified as being essential to increasing the prosperity of the region, notably the development of infrastructure that facilitates trade, as well as to promote trade and investments between Africa and the CARICOM Member States while supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the region.
The opening of the Afreximbank CARICOM Office is essential for the Bank’s activities in the Caribbean Community. It will make Afreximbank’s projects and products more accessible to the business community and guarantee that the bank quickly ramps up operations to foster deeper links with the governments in the area in order to pursue goals that both parties have agreed upon.
Afreximbank’s president and board chairman, Professor Benedict Oramah, stated:
“I am delighted to announce this important milestone as we forge closer ties with our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.
“There are enormous opportunities to scale the trade and investment flows between the African continent and the broader African diaspora. Investment flows between Africa and the Caribbean are currently almost non-existent. This strategic partnership will open the door for enhanced trade and investment between Africa and the Caribbean. We are poised to right the wrongs of the middle passage. This approval is an important step towards that end.”
