BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says it hopes Caribbean businesses will grasp the opportunities being presented at the trade fairs it will host in Grenada and Algeria this year.
Acting Chief Operating Officer at the Barbados-based Caribbean Office of Afreximbank, Okechukwu Ihejirika, speaking with CMC (CMC Photo).“And what that means is that opens up opportunities for the Caribbean as well because small manufacturers or medium-sized manufacturers within the region will now have access to a large market, leveraging on the AFCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area) to create access to a new market, which is actually bigger and more sustainable,” said the acting Chief Operating Officer at the Barbados-based Caribbean Office of Afreximbank, Okechukwu Ihejirika.
“Our traditional trading partners are coming up with measures that are aimed at restricting trade between us and them, but that means we now also need to create a long-lasting partnership among ourselves that’s going to be sustainable,” he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Afreximbank will hold the fourth AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2025) in St. George’s from July 28 to 29 with Algiers hosting the fourth Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025) from September 4.
Ihejirika told CMC that both events are excellent opportunities to deepen trade between Africa and the Caribbean, saying “we’ve moved from referring to Africa as the geographic continent Africa as we know it today.
“Now we know the concept of global Africa has been launched,” he said, noting that Afreximbank opened its Barbados office, the first outside of the continent, in 2023 and has been pushing the concept of Global Africa.
IATF was first muted in the 1970s as a platform to enable more trade between African countries but only gained traction in 2018 when Afreximbank reviewed it following the establishment of the bank’s intra-African trade Initiative to support and grow trade possibilities in Africa.
At the time, five to seven per cent of the trade in Africa was among countries on the continent and Afreximbank set out to increase it to about 20-25 per cent in the first instance.
Ihejirika said the main reason for the low levels of trade was a lack of information, noting for example, that business people in the neighboring countries of Nigeria and Ghana knew more about Chinese products than each other although their own products were more affordable.
He said this meant that a platform was needed to address this dearth of information, hence the IATF, which is held biannually.
“… we’ve had consistently over 40,000 people visiting the fair, which shows an enormous turnout, and we’ve had exhibitors ranging over 1,500 exhibitors from different countries in Africa,” Ihejirika told CMC.
This year, the bank is expecting similar numbers, with over 2,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries.
Ihejirika said that IATF creates opportunities for African businesses to interact with the global community as it provides opportunities for business-to-business and business-to-government engagement.
There are also opportunities for people to showcase what they have that is unique to their country as well as for cultural exchanges.
He said with the African Union’s formal recognition of the diaspora as the sixth region of the continent, Afreximbank needed to work hand in hand to foster the ties and the bonds between Africa and the Caribbean.
Efforts are being made to put together an Africa-Caribbean business forum, “which will also foster this particular idea behind creating a vibrant Africa-Caribbean relationship.
“But also important to note is that the bank is leading from the front with regards to making sure that this initiative sees the light of the day,” he said, adding that in setting up the Caribbean office, AFreximbank was showing that it believes strongly in the Global African concept.
“And we want to see more trade happen between Africa and the Caribbean,” he said, adding that the International Trade Centre (ITC) says that trade between Africa and the Caribbean now stands at less than US$700 million.
“That’s abysmally low and needs to be worked on now,” Ihejirika said, adding that ITC projects that trade could be increased to US$1.8 billion by 2028.
“And it’s our intention, not just making 1.8 billion, but to grow it even more so that in today’s era where we see geopolitical issues crop up from now and then, we now need to create a bond between ourselves, which is a very sustainable one, which can help us create resilience, especially in times of trouble, in terms of issues,” Ihejirika told CMC.
He said that having the Caribbean on board is critical for the success of the IATF
“And we believe, with the launching of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement in 2018 that created a 1.4 billion people’s market, 1.4 people market, which is the biggest globally. I mean, there’s no other free trade area that can compare to that.
By participating in IATF, the Caribbean can see what is available in Africa and can forge lasting partnerships between the two regions.
“… we’ve seen this happen skeletally in the past,” Ihejirika said, adding that the Trinidad and Tobago-based Republic Bank has set up a branch in Ghana, “which was very, very encouraging to see that bold initiative.
“We’ve also seen a Nigerian company being announced to take over the running of a refinery in Trinidad and Tobago,” Ihejirika said, adding that Afreximbank would like to see a lot more similar initiatives.
Ihejirika emphasized that Afreximbank is ready to add financial strength and muscle to the efforts at deepening trade, adding that finance is important to making business-to-business initiatives successful.
“And to a large extent, this has also been one of the issues that are working against the Africa, Caribbean relationship. So we also want to provide financing as much as possible to make sure we facilitate this and make it see the light of the day.”
Ihejirika noted that ACTIF was conceived after the AU-CARICOM summit in 2021 and was designed to bring business people from Africa and the Caribbean together “to talk about nothing but business and how they can work together”.
ACTIF was first held in Barbados, then moved to Guyana and is taking place in St. George’s this year.
He said many African business people who attended the first forum in Bridgetown later returned to explore the tourism potential.
“… this wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t created an event of this nature. That’s an example.”
In Guyana, there were over 1,700 attendees, similar to in Barbados, with several deals being signed.
The third edition of ACTIF was twinned with Afreximbank’s annual meetings in The Bahamas in 2023 and saw almost 4,000 people attending.
“… and it opened up a lot of people’s eyes to what benefit exists if Caribbean and Africa trade together,” Ihejirika told CMC, adding that a lot of the people who attended have pursued initiatives on their own.
For instance, in March, a Nigerian consulting outfit that attended the Bahamas event, held an investment forum in Abuja focused on investments in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dt. Terrance Drew and the Nevis Premier, Mark Brantley attended the event, which drew a lot of participation from Africa, Ihejirika told said, adding that this was “evidence to show that the messaging is resonating is bearing fruit.
“I also do know that a lot of partnerships were formed. There are companies discussing with their partners in Guyana to see how they can partner,” he said, noting that Nigeria is an oil-rich country with experience in oil exploration.
“And companies are also experiencing that space, we see a lot of connectivity now happening with them, trying to also see how they can foster partnerships, like in countries that have new oil discoveries like Guyana and Suriname,” Ihejirika told CMC.
“And these are all things that wouldn’t have been possible if not because we have the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum creating this solution.”
He said Afreximbank expects the Caribbean to use ACTIF “as an opportunity to showcase what they have on offer, noting that the trade fair is taking place in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States for the first time.
“So we are taking the exhibition just beyond Grenada alone, to also create a forum where we talk about investment opportunities in the OECS generally, because these are all the things that come up.”
He said the fair will be an opportunity to foster common solutions to common problems.
“And what is more, if you look at the caliber of people who attend — well-known business people, successful business partners from across the continent and as well as policymakers, government officials, then it is a perfect platform where, when we discuss, we can go out with concrete resolutions, because all the parties who should have their voice in the discussion have lent their voice to it, and whatever solution we have, you know, factored out, can actually easily be implemented,” Ihejirika told CMC.
