Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and chairman, Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), has called on African and non-African countries, exhibitors, and delegates to register as he officially declared open the 2023 IATF to be hosted in Cote D’Ivoire.
The IATF, he said, is an important component of the continent’s effort at writing the wrongs of the past and breaking down borders aimed at building bridges to help it achieve the ambitions of agenda 2063 – ‘the Africa we want’.
“As we draw the curtain on IATF 2021 Durban, South Africa, and pass the button to Cote D’Ivoire, I wish to inform you that registration for a third intra-African trade fair (IATF 2023), which will hold in Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire, 2023 is now officially open,” Obasanjo said at a press conference in Accra, Ghana.
Organised by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the African Union (AU) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, the second intra-African Trade Fair (IATF 2021) took place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa from 15 to 21, November 2021.
IATF 2021 provided a platform to promote trade under the AfCFTA. It brought together continental and global buyers and sellers, and enabled stakeholders to share trade, investment and market information as well as trade finance and trade facilitation solutions designed to support intra-African trade and the economic integration of the continent.
Obasanjo said the IATF 2021 represented much more than just a trade fair but that it was a powerful transformative social and economic event that fostered African integration and a platform of trade.
He noted that the 2021 IATF provided a meeting platform for trade and investment deals of about $42 billion signed in one week, adding that seven sitting heads of state and government participated in the event by gracing the opening ceremony and visiting the exhibition stands.
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“We are extremely proud to say that IATF 2021 turned out to be a resoundingly successful week that met and surpassed all our expectations,” he said.
“Success of the inaugural IATF held in Caro, Egypt in 2018 provided a building block for the successful outing in Durban last year. We must therefore ensure that efforts aimed at growing intra-Africa trade are sustained and hoped that IATF 2023 will again provide an opportunity for exhibitors to showcase their goods and services, engage in business-to-business exchanges and conclude business deals that will change the fortune of the continent,” Obasanjo said.
Present at the conference were Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Tiemoko Moriko, ambassador of the Republic of Cote D’Ivoire in Ghana and Togo, and Kanayo Awani, managing director, Intra-African Trade initiative, Afreximbank.
IATF 2021 surpassed its pre-set target of US$40 billion in trade and investment deals, going well beyond the US$32 billion in transactions closed at the first edition in Cairo, Egypt in 2018.
The expected number of participants and exhibitors was also exceeded. Against a target of 1,100 exhibitors, IATF 2021 saw 1,161 exhibitors showcase their goods and services. While the organisers aimed for at least 10,000 participants, the event attracted over 30,000 participants of which 11,828 were in person.
