Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. HARARE has been selected to host the headquarters of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in an ambitious plan by the co-founders to make Africa’s biggest trade fair platform a standalone entity.
IATF was set up by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to drive intra-African trade.
It held trade fairs in 2018, 2021, 2023 and the current one is underway in Algiers, Algeria.
Afreximbank president Benedict Oramah said IATF organisers had built a solid platform that could stand the test of time and it was time to “institutionalise the initiative and lessen the burden on Afreximbank and its collaborating partners, the AUC and AfCFTA Secretariat”.
“The [IATF] Advisory Council has approved Harare, Zimbabwe, as the new headquarters of a new independent IATF entity,” Oramah said in his opening remarks at IATF 2025 yesterday.
“I congratulate the government of Zimbabwe for putting up a very strong bid and hope it will work assiduously with the council to quickly open the IATF as an independent, sustainable organisation in Harare.”
Oramah said Afreximbank would inject US$28 million to bolster the new independent entity, urging African governments, corporations and financial institutions to support the new entity “during its early teething stage”, although the partners “anticipate that the organisation would strive for financial sustainability”.
The selection of Harare to host IATF is a vote of confidence in Zimbabwe by Afreximbank and its partners.
Harare hosts Afreximbank regional office for southern Africa.
An Afreximbank Africa Trade Centre is under construction and will be complete by year end.
Oramah said the move to make IATF an independent entity was designed to wean it off the conveners who have been bankrolling it for the past eight years.
IATF is designed to bring together continental and global players to explore business and investment opportunities in Africa.
It serves as a marketplace where buyers and sellers meet and explore business opportunities.
It provides a platform for B2B and B2G exchanges and development of business opportunities.
Its objective is to share trade, investment and market information and to identify solutions to address the challenges affecting intra-African trade.
IATF is one of the planks in driving intra-African trade under the African, Continental Free Trade Area.
Statistics from Afreximbank show that deals worth US$43,8 billion were sealed at IATF in Cairo, Egypt, in 2023.
This year’s edition is tipped to conclude deals worth over US$44 billion.
For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press
