Afreximbank president and chairman of the board Benedict Oramah said on Monday that Africa and the Caribbean must combine forces to confront the challenges in the horizon, signalling the bank’s thrust to drive trade between the two regions.
In his keynote address at the second AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF 2023), Oramah said progress after the two regions resolved to cement ties.
“Just over a year ago, we began that journey convinced that only we could transform the fortunes of our lands… All of us from Africa and the Caribbean, at this moment more than at any other time in history, hold a firm conviction that determined action can grant us the economic emancipation and the true dignity we deserve,” he said.
Eleven of the 15 CARICOM Member States have signed the Partnership Treaty and Afreximbank has opened a Caribbean Office in Barbados which has begun operations.
Oramah said Africa and the Caribbean should not drop the ball in the thrust to drive trade relations between the two regions.
“…In a de-globalising world, small open economies will suffer if they don’t bind together, and there can be no better binding than that of brothers and sisters, as represented by AfriCaribbean trade and investment integration,” Oramah said at the two-day trade and investment conference in Georgetown, Guyana.
The event ends Tuesday.
Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, said ACTIF was one platform in which “we can own our problems and find solutions to our problems among ourselves”.
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“We are too small to act in silos. We must remove imaginary barriers. In honour of our forefathers who lost their lives horrendously, we can rewrite that history and enhance collaboration between our two regions,” Ali said.
Since the inaugural ACTIF held in Barbados in September 2022, the Caribbean Development Fund has become Afreximbank’s first CARICOM shareholder, and Afreximbank has implemented or progressed a range of initiatives to further AfriCaribbean linkages.
Afreximbank has approved a facility of US$1.5 billion for CARICOM states, which will increase to US$3 billion when all 15 CARICOM countries have signed the Partnership treaty. The bank’s five trade and investment missions to CARICOM have resulted in pipeline deals totalling US$2 billion, under which critical transactions have been approved or are at final approval committee level.
These include SME support and development in The Bahamas, tourism revitalisation support in Barbados, tourism projects in Grenada, renewable energy projects and trade finance in Saint Kitts and Nevis, and climate adaptation interventions in Saint Lucia.
Afreximbank’s investment promotion drive has attracted well advanced African investment interest in the Caribbean’s financial sector, fisheries, industrial parks, ports, renewable energy, and tourism.
The pan African bank will be running a pilot programme for the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System for CARICOM central banks as the payment infrastructure for CARICOM.
Afreximbank will start developing the Africa Trade Centre in Barbados as the permanent location for its Caribbean office, in addition to a hotel, trade information, conferencing and exhibition facilities before the end of next year.
