The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Thursday in Yaoundé held a promotional event to showcase the Bank’s programmes, products and services to the business community and government. As well as communicating the breadth of the Bank’s offering to businesses in the region, the event also enabled Afreximbank to gauge its particular requirements – allowing it to tailor its products to address specific regional issues and dynamics.
The event, designed to accelerate the activity of Afreximbank’s new Central Africa Regional Office, was also an opportunity to raise awareness of the upcoming Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) to be held in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa from the 15th to the 21st November 2021.
Attending the event was a combination of representatives from government, private sector institutions, and economic bodies, including the Ministries of Trade, Finance, Economy respectively as well as Cameroon’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Cameroonian Bankers Association, and the Cameroonian Corporate Association.
Afreximbank’s organization of this event reflects a broader commitment to Cameroon, and a determination on the part of the Bank to support the country’s expansion of its manufacturing capacity through the development of logistics, industrial parks and processing plants for key commodities, as well as the provision of trade finance for the import of capital goods to accelerate industrialization. Central to Afreximbank’s work in Cameroon will be the facilitation of export of processed and manufactured goods and close collaboration with Cameroonian businesses to increase their access to regional and continental markets, especially in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
In countless African countries, Afreximbank has supported the diversification of economies away from a dependence on mono-export, and this event served as an opportunity for stakeholders in Cameroon and the wider Central Africa Region to see the opportunities made available to them with the establishment of the Bank’s new branch in Yaoundé.
Speaking at the event, Amr Kamel, Executive Vice President, Business Development & Corporate Banking at Afreximbank, said that “We are delighted to be hosting an event which brings together key figures and institutions from Cameroon’s economic and commercial spheres, and believe that, through close co-operation and collaboration with Afreximbank, this country’s economy can be transformed.”
The promotional event was one of three activities held by Afreximbank in Yaoundé during the week. In addition to the fourth quarterly meeting of its Board of Directors, the Bank is also launching its Central Africa Sub-Regional Office in Yaoundé on 24 September.