We’re working to bridge Africa’s infrastructure gap– Kanayo Awani
For Africa to compete in the global market there are several issues that need to be urgently addressed. Experts have identified Africa’s yawning infrastructure gap as a great impediment to its development efforts as almost every other issue related to the state of infrastructure. To this end, there has been calls for the continent to bridge this gap to enable it unleash its development potential. One organization that is at the forefront of this effort is the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). Afreximbank in collaboration with sister pan African development finance organisations consider infrastructure as a critical factor for unlocking the continent’s trade potential, thus the need to make it a priority.
This much was reemphasized in a chat this correspondent had with Ms. Kanayo Awani, Managing Director, Intra-African Trade Initiative who says that Afreximbank acknowledges that infrastructural deficit has been hindering Africa-to-Africa trade and is working round the clock with other partners to bridge the gap.
According to Ms. Awani , the Bank is using three broad instruments to address the challenge of inadequate infrastructure on the continent to boost intra-African trade. She says the instruments are trade and project finance; risk guarantees as well as providing trade advocacy and advisory.
“Some of our initiatives are around industrial parks development and if you go to our booth, you will see a picture of an industrial park in Cote d’Ivoire and that project is meant to actually deal with infrastructure challenge so that manufacturers can just go there, set up and don’t worry about amenities,” Awani says.
She adds that Afreximbank is also working on an infrastructure study to identify the trade-carrying infrastructure across the continent. “Infrastructure is a big problem in Africa; there is no doubt about that. But, we think that the current stock of infrastructure is carrying just over a trillion volume of trade,” Awani says.
On the challenges of putting together the Intra-African Trade Fair, she says although it was not an easy task, the organizers were driven by their conviction that it was the right way to go and so the challenges eventually turned out to be opportunities for them. “Right now, there are about 1,100 exhibitors. The interesting thing about this trade fair is the complexity and comprehensiveness of the programme we have put together. First, it is a trade show and exhibition. Secondly, conferences are running alongside the trade show to deal with some of the opportunities available for intra-African trade,” Awani says.
Awani is glad that Afreximbank has enjoyed tremendous support from the African Union (AU) and the Government of Egypt in mounting the trade fair. According to her, the AU has been a driving force in marketing the fair within its policy framework and bringing together ministers of trade who are also holding their conference alongside the trade fair. On the other hand, the host — Egypt — represented by the Export Development Agency (EDA) of the Ministry of Trade provided excellent facilities for the fair. “Beyond facilities, they have provided immense support, including security among other soft infrastructure for this fair,” she says.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
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