Expedite admission of Afreximbank as specialised agency – Akufo-Addo tells African Union Commission
The president made this call as he addressed participants at the opening ceremony for the 30th Afreximbank Annual Meetings at AICC
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has called on the African Union (AU) Commission to expedite, as a matter of importance, processes that will lead to the admission of Afreximbank as one of several specialised agencies of the AU.
The admission of Afreximbank as a specialised agency, just as with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, will foster a strong relationship between the two agencies (Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat) and support the implementation of the continental trade compact.
Call to expedite change
The president made this call when he addressed participants in the opening ceremony of the 30th Afreximbank Annual Meetings at the Accra International Conference Centre on Monday (19 June 2023.
“I call on the African Union (AU) Commission to expedite the process of admitting Afreximbank as a specialised agency of the African Union at the … July AU Summit,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“Afreximbank has played a major role in the development of our countries over the years and is expected to play an even more important role during the implementation of the AfCFTA,” the president said.
“The AfCFTA is already a specialised agency for our development and it is time we formalised the process to strengthen further the co-ordination to enhance its development impact,” he added.
Support for Afreximbank
President Akufo-Addo pointed out that Africa is dealing with strong global financial institutions and that should make people in authority across the continent aware that it needs to grow its own powerful international financial institutions it can fall on in times of need such as the one that the continent experienced during the commodity supercycle in 2015 and the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.
“It is often said that you know who is truly your friend when you are in trouble and, as rightly stated by Dr Martin Luther King in an often-cited quote, ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.’
“When you are dealing with powerful international financial institutions, it is important to have your own powerful financial institution,” said President Akufo-Addo, who is also the official champion of AU financial institutions.
The Africa Export-Import Bank
Afreximbank’s shared purpose is to stimulate the consistent expansion and diversification of African trade so as to increase Africa’s share of global trade rapidly.
In doing so, the bank seeks to operate as a first-class, profit-oriented, socially responsible financial institution and a centre of excellence in African trade matters.
The bank’s shared vision is to consolidate its position as “the Trade Finance Bank for Africa”. Achieving its vision, the banks notes, is dependent on its ability to successfully execute effectively a strategy around four strategic pillars, which are to “promote intra-African trade”, “facilitate industrialisation and export development”, “strengthen trade finance leadership” and “improve financial performance and soundness”.
Afreximbank offers a range of financing programmes, solutions and advisory services to support the expansion, diversification, promotion and development of intra- and extra-African trade and trade development projects.
Under its fifth strategic plan (covering the period 2017 to 2021), the bank has identified industrialisation and export development (I&ED) as one of the pillars that will help to deliver on its mandate.
The export development department supports the I&ED pillar with the following mechanisms: facilitating and financing manufactured exports from Africa, in particular for the agro-processing and light manufacturing sectors and developing and establishing industrial parks and special economic zones across the African continent.
Addressing Africa’s infrastructure constraints that have a debilitating effect on industrialisation and export development; facilitating and enabling market access for Africa’s manufactured exports; and supporting the export of services (medical services, tourism, administration) are other areas of focus for the bank in developing the export sector.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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