Afreximbank Trade Centres Are New Hubs To Speed African Integration

Afreximbank plans to build nine such hubs across Africa and the Caribbean. Beyond providing business information and facilitating trade and investment, these centres will also serve as platforms for real-time digital engagements for people in different parts of the continent.

"The Abuja AATC is the first of several AATCs being developed across Africa and the Caribbean," said Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank, while opening the event in Abuja. "With these, we expect to create a sizeable network of AATCs that will act as the lighthouses to guide the interconnections and flow of trade and investments within continental Africa and between Africa and Caribbean regions."

Conceived by Afreximbank in 2018, it is intended to help Africans realise the full benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, that created the world's largest free trade area.

As African countries seek to overcome colonial boundaries and historical separations, the trade centres represent, 'strong physical institutional infrastructure for deepening connections and exchange of information among Africans and the Caribbean and indeed the wider African Diaspora," according to Oramah.

The Abuja AATC has facilities for incubating technology startups as well as small and medium enterprises, conference and exhibition spaces and a business hotel, according to details provided by Afreximbank. It will also host the bank's regional office.