Registration Opens for Second Intra-African Trade Fair

Categories: Press Releases

IATF2020 to Showcase AfCFTA Opportunities, Boost Intra-African Trade

Cairo, 10 Feb. 2020 – Registration has opened for the second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2020) scheduled to take place in Kigali from 1 to 7 September 2020.

Organised by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in collaboration with the African Union and hosted by the Government of Rwanda, IATF2020 is planned to be the year’s largest and most important trade-focused event in Africa and to result in the conclusion of trade and investment deals worth $40 billion.

IATF2020 will enable the over 1,100 expected exhibitors and sponsors to showcase their products and services to business and government attendees from over 55 countries and to provide a marketplace for buyers and sellers to meet and explore business opportunities. It will also feature Business-to-Business and Business-to-Government exchanges for the development of trade and investment.

The trade fair will also include the IATF Conference, which will run alongside the exhibition, featuring business leaders, ministers, trade financiers and other high-profile personalities addressing major African trade and investment issues. In addition, there will be a Virtual Trade Fair, a digital platform to enable businesses to participate remotely, including after the physical trade fair would have ended. Country Days have also been set aside to allow interested countries dedicated days to highlight their trade and investment opportunities.

Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank said: “Tariffs, protectionism, poor infrastructure, lack of market information and other barriers to trade have severely constrained intra-African trade and impeded the continent’s economic development for decades. With the operational phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area starting to remove many of these obstacles just two months before the Intra-African Trade Fair, there has never been a better time for Africa’s vibrant and varied business sectors to grasp the opportunities to exponentially increase their intra-African and global trade.

The Intra-African Trade Fair will widen networks and introduce new trading partners for business and government buyers and sellers from across Africa and beyond, enabling them to tap into new markets in multiple regions. Those attending the Trade Fair will be ideally positioned to access a single market of over 1.2 billion people and reap the full commercial benefits of the AfCFTA.”

The inaugural Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2018), which took place in Cairo in December 2018, generated business deals worth more than $32 billion and drew accolades from many of the participants for the impact on their businesses. One Nigerian businessman reported that a business introduction at the event “has changed the course of (his) company with a global reach now into South East Asia, Middle East, Africa itself and South America.”

For further information about IATF2020, exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities, or registration, please visit: www.intrafricantradefair.com.

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Media Contact: Obi Emekekwue (oemekekwue@afreximbank.com; Tel. +202-2456-4238)

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About the second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2020): The second edition of the biennial Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) will take place in Kigali from 1 to 7 September 2020. It will provide a platform for entry into a single market of over 1.2 billion people joined together by the African Continental Free Trade Area, serving as a marketplace bringing together continental and global buyers and sellers and showcasing goods and services. IATF2020 will enable stakeholders to share trade, investment and market information as well as trade finance and trade facilitation solutions designed to support intra-African trade and African economic integration. In addition to establishing a business-to-business and a business-to-government exchange platform for business deals and advisory services, IATF2020 will also operate a Virtual Trade Fair on an interactive online platform accessible to all. The IATF2020 Conference will run alongside the exhibition and will feature high-profile speakers and panellists addressing topical issues relating to trade finance, payments, trade facilitation, trade-enabling infrastructure, harmonisation of trade standards, industrialization, regional value chains and investment. For more information, visit: www.intrafricantradefair.com

About Afreximbank: The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is the foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. The Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors. Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organisation, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Since 1994, it has approved more than $67 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including $7.2 billion in 2018. Afreximbank had total assets of $13.4 billion as at 31 December 2018 and is rated BBB+ (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB– (Fitch). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo. For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com