His Excellency Dr Mokgweetsi E. K. Masisi is attending the 12th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union

His Excellency is accompanied by the Minister of Trade and Industry ,Hon Mmusi Kgafela, Ambassador Zenene Sinombe and other Senior Government Officials.

Addressing the 54 member States of the African Union (AU), the President of African Export -Import Bank (Afreximbank) Professor Benedit Oramah told the AU Summit that Afreximbank has continued to support the needs of the people of Africa as espoused in the “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.”

He said Afreximbank showed its support during the Covid 19 Pandemic when it disbursed over 8 billion US dollars to Central and commercial Banks to avert trade debt payment defaults and to support the procurement of test kits, while helping with other materials needed to manage Covid, noting also the support towards the first ever pooled procurement arrangement by member States in an emergency .

In its efforts to keeping Africa from plummeting into a crisis as a result of the ongoing crises ,Afreximbank disbursed over 5 billion US dollars towards the procurement of food, fertilizer and grains. He added that Africa Trades Exchange ( ATEX) is helping African countries to also procure grains ,edible oils and fertilizers at a reduced cost.

Afreximbank will continue to support the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in the area of trade and investment. He pointed out that Afreximbank also ensures that there is a one stop solution by offering African owned financial institutions access to international banks ,he says this helps to manage the influx of international banks into the region .

To date Afreximbank has made it possible to conduct intra African trade payment systems in African national currencies.

Afreximbank head says they will continue to work closely with African Governments to develop and expand Industrial Paros(IP’s) and Special Ecconomic Zones ( SEZ) to deal with the challenges brought on by Industrialisation.

A total of 900 million US dollars has been used in projects across Africa and to date ongoing discussions for the development of Industrial Parks are ongoing with Botswana , DRC ,Zambia,Rwanda and Kenya. The Summit was informed that Industrialisation of Africa can also be realized through developing Auto Industry and through building of Automotive value chains .Afreximbank continues to offer financial support to the shared goals of the AU member States