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Afreximbank
President Dr. Benedict Oramah (right) with Ade Ayeyemi, Group Chief Executive
Officer of Ecobank, at the end of the Afreximbank-Ecobank Strategy meeting in
Cairo.
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The African
Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Ecobank rose from a strategy meeting
Cairo on Monday with a pledge to ensure deepened cooperation in the promotion of
trade among African countries to support the economic development of the
continent.
Speaking during the opening of the
strategy meeting held at the Afreximbank Headquarters, Dr. Benedict Oramah,
President of the Bank, said that intra-African trade represented a clear
pathway for Africa to realize its economic potentials and that collaboration
with Ecobank would be in line with the vision of the founding fathers of
Afreximbank to increase the development impact of the continent’s commercial
banks.
“With a presence in 33 African countries, there is no better partner for
Afreximbank to work with in its drive to develop intra-African trade,” said Dr.
Oramah.
Ade Ayeyemi, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank, said that the time
had come for African countries to make appropriate use of the strong and
growing internal demand that exists within the region which is driving strong
returns on capital.
“Cooperating with
Afreximbank is an excellent way for Ecobank to prosecute one of the objectives
of its founding fathers, which is to contribute to the development of the
continent,” he said. “Growing intra-African trade and strengthening the
capacity of our economies to produce, export and trade amongst themselves is an
excellent way to pursue this objective and is one of the key things we will
seek to do in our partnership with Afreximbank.”
Through
working together in an inclusive way, Ecobank and Afreximbank could create
something bigger than either institution and would bring about substantive
change in the lives of people across Africa by making the market work to
deliver value, said Mr. Ayeyemi.
In September,
when he was sworn in as President of Afreximbank, Dr. Oramah had pledged to
make the promotion and facilitation of intra-African trade the cornerstone of
Afreximbank’s work in the years ahead, saying, “I believe that intra-African
trade holds the key to a technology-driven growth on our continent as it will
facilitate the attainment of dynamic comparative advantage in the production
and export of certain kinds of manufactured goods and services and will prepare
African firms for better global competition”.
He added that the Bank would work to create the capacity for export
manufacturing, especially light manufactures, by shifting resources more to the
financing of the import of investment or capital goods while de-emphasizing the
financing of the import of non-essential consumption goods.
Manal Mounir Hendy
Associate
External Communications
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