Caribbean Export and Afreximbank seeking to cement ties and trading relations between the Caribbean and Africa

Caribbean Export and Afreximbank seeking to cement ties and trading relations between the Caribbean and Africa

The Caribbean Export Development Agency and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have renewed a commitment to foster trade and investment relations between the Caribbean and the African Continent. 

The renewed commitment comes just one month after the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in The Bahamas to leverage their strengths and resources to foster economic growth and development across both regions.  

At a press conference at the Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF) on Thursday, Executive Director of Caribbean Export, Dr Damie Sinanan said with significant advancements in the areas of innovation and technology, there is a lot that the Caribbean could learn from Africa, which is the continent with the second fastest growing economy behind Asia.

He said in 2023, Caribbean Export led a mission to West Africa, and was highly impressed with the level of innovation and technology being deployed in Ghana and Nigeria. 

“I think we can learn a lot from our African brothers and sisters. Not just trade and investment but know how, technology and modelling. And, to get that done, all it takes is reaching out, reaching out and getting to know and form the relationships and form the partnerships. And that is what Caribbean Export is committed to do over the next three to five years,” Dr Sinanan said. 

The official said firms in Ghana and Nigeria are eager to connect with the Caribbean, and the MOU that was signed, now serves as the first step to advance trade and economic development between the two regions. 

Acting Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Afreximbank, Caribbean Office, Okechukwu Ihejirika said with the bank now having a presence in the Caribbean, there is increased interest. 

“What we are seeing now is that people are now engaging more to see where the opportunities lie, people who have investment funds are now having partners who they can reply on, and that is the Afreximbank connection. And for us, as a financing institution means, once those twinning processes progress, once relationships are fostered, then we bring in finance to make it into a reality,” Ihejirika said. 

He said with the support of Caribbean Export, the Exim Bank can develop solution-oriented packages that would be able to drive development in both regions. 

The Afreximbank COO (ag) said together the regions can become a formidable force, citing a period during the COVID-19 pandemic when they partnered to secure COVID-19 vaccines. 

“Africa and the Caribbean did a vaccine acquisition programme during the COVID-19 crisis. Where as usual, the politics in allocating vaccine came in and then you had everyone looking at solution at the same time. It made sense that we organize ourselves as a block, we got all our demands together and it added up to something significant that enable us to sit down with the manufacturers to negotiate and that made sure that small island countries got the vaccine at the same price as big countries like Nigeria Egypt…Afreximbank facilitated it by putting down $2B as a guarantee to Johnson and Johnson to facilitate that vaccine allocation,” he explained. 

Under the MOU, the two sides have agreed to build capacity in areas of mutual interest, facilitate the exchange of information, and assist with trade and investment facilitation. 

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