The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Capacity Building Foundation today in Cairo entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate in strengthening institutional capacity to support intra-African trade and in the financing of other capacity development initiatives in Africa.
Under the terms of the MOU, the two institutions will work together to build capacity for research and policy formulation and implementation through think tanks and private sector organisations to uncover innovations in effective economic integration, intra-African trade and export development. They will also collaborate in raising the awareness of stakeholders about the importance of intra-African trade in the development of Africa, including highlighting the importance of increasing the proportion of intra-African trade in relation to the continent’s total trade.
Other areas of collaboration include the promotion of the harmonization of standards across Africa and the leveraging of ACBF’s advocacy programme to support Afreximbank’s efforts to deepen intra-African trade and accelerate the implementation of the Bank’s new Strategic Plan.
Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah (left), with Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, Executive Secretary of ACBF (centre), and Denys Denya, Afreximbank Executive Vice President, following the MOU signing ceremony.
Dr. Benedict Oramah, the Afreximbank President, described the signing of the MOU as consistent with the Bank’s philosophy that Africans should champion the course of the continent, arguing that ACBF was positioned to play a very important role in helping to find solutions to the skill gaps which the Bank had identified on the continent.
The President added that Afreximbank had demonstrated its support for the work of ACBF by committing funding to help the Foundation support the implementation of its five-year strategic plan.
Responding, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, Executive Secretary of ACBF, said that partnership with Afreximbank would be mutually beneficial to the two institutions. According to him, ACBF had striven to be properly anchored within Africa’s development architecture.
“ACBF is a very focused organization, determined and committed to addressing the critical issues germane to the continent,” said the Executive Secretary.
Accompanying Prof. Nnadozie to the signing ceremony from ACBF were Bakary Kone, Director of Strategic Planning, Partnerships and Resource Mobilisation, and Dr. Roger Atindehou, Director of the Operations Department.
Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah (seated centre), flanked by Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, Executive Secretary of ACBF (right), and Denys Denya, Afreximbank Executive Vice President, in group photo with other participants in the MOU signing ceremony.