Bolaji Adebiyi in Algiers

The curtain fell on this year’s Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Algiers, Algeria, on Wednesday, with the biannual trade summit exceeding the organisers’ targets, recording deals worth a staggering $48.3 billion, $4 billion more than estimated.

“By all measures, including the number of buyers, visitors, exhibitors and countries, as well as the value of deals made, this has been the best we have seen,” an elated President of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, stated during the press conference at the end of the fair.

Conceived in 1963, the African Common Market idea did not come to fruition until 2018, when the first IATF was held in Cairo, Egypt, with an estimated 1,000 participants, resulting in the closure of $20 billion worth of deals. 

Its growth has been remarkable, as the second edition, held in Durban, South Africa, in 2021, welcomed over 1,100 exhibitors from 59 countries and recorded deals worth US$42 billion. IATF returned to Cairo in 2023, featuring 1,600 exhibitors and trade and investment commitments exceeding US$43 billion.

Organised by Afreximbank in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, 35,000 conference delegates, 75 exhibiting countries, and 2,000 exhibitors were expected to secure $44 billion worth of deals at this year’s fair. 

Examining the latest figures, however, Afreximbank’s Director of Trade Facilitation & Investment Promotion, Dr. Gainmore Zanamwe, noted that the 2025 edition surpassed the key performance indicators set by the Advisory Council. 

According to him, deals worth $48.3 billion were signed, while 2,148 exhibitors from 132 countries and 112,476 delegates attended the seven-day event. He added that 49 African countries and 21 non-African countries had exhibition pavilions, which attracted 958 buyers, instead of the estimated 750.

These figures were elating for Oramah, under whose watch the dream of the founding fathers of the African Union (AU) for an African Common Market was actualised. 

“It sets the stage for what will happen going forward,” he stated, urging the bank and its promoters to raise the bar by ensuring that all the signed deals were followed through.

He stated: “In the future, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. It is the extent to which we implement the deals signed here that will count. So, as we have done in the past, Afreximbank will follow up on all the deals and make sure that by the time we get to Lagos in 2027, most of them are completed. We will finance where they need financing, and facilitate where they need facilitation.”

Saying the IATF had become an institution, Oramah urged that Afreximbank must be deliberate about mobilising African financial institutions to participate in the fair, explaining that apart from the challenge of trade information, the lack of capital to finance projects and trade, as well as the ability to manage the risks on the continent, are serious issues.  

“So, we must find a way to get African financial institutions, including credit insurance companies, to start deliberately supporting the trade that is beginning to develop,” he said, expressing regret that Shelter Afrique was the only development bank that participated in the fair.

He urged that the IATF Headquarters, which was being established in Zimbabwe, commence operations, and thanked the Afreximbank Board of Directors for approving $28 billion as the initial capital for the project. 

The next edition of the trade fair, which aims at promoting intra-African trade, will take place in Lagos in 2027.

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