eBusiness Weekly
Kudzanai Sharara
Afreximbank will next month, in Accra Ghana, hold the first gathering of global Africa including, for the first time, leaders from the Caribbean region, Afreximbank President Professor Benedict Oramah has said.
Speaking at a press conference that was held on Friday as a prelude to the 30th Afreximbank Annual Meetings and 30th Anniversary celebrations, President Oramah said this year’s event will be the first for global Africa.
The celebrations and annual meetings will be held from 17 – 21 June 2023 in Accra, Ghana.
“It will be the first annual meeting for Afreximbank that we will welcome our brothers and sisters from the Carrebean region following the decision by the Carrebean community last year to join Afreximbank and use Afreximbank as the vehicle for integration, of trade, investment, and economic relations between Africa and the Caribbean,” said Prof Oramah.
He said this year’s meeting will be the first meeting of all Africans, not only geographical Africa but Global Africa.
“The stakeholders traversing the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Asia wherever you see Africans, and we are proud that we will do this in the home country of the pan-Africanist, who led the fight for independence, not only on paper but of mind from the colonial legacies we all inherited,” said Prof Oramah.
The meeting will see the participation of other African leaders as well as leaders of Caribbean nations who have been invited by Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Ministers from Africa and the Caribbean, central bank governors from the two regions, captains of industry, CEOs of banks and non-bank institutions as well as NGOs are also expected to attend the annual meetings.
“We expect about three to four thousand guests here during the week. We are also expecting, as I mentioned, that we will be joined by Prime Ministers, Government officials and corporate leaders from the Caribbean and the wider African diaspora from all parts of the world,” said Prof Oramah.
The Afreximbank President said his bank is focused on the promotion of integration in Africa, through support for inter-African trade and investment.
He narrated the role played by Afreximbank in acquiring vaccines for the continent.
“As we celebrate our 30th anniversary we also look ahead and celebrate the importance of our own institutions in the journey we started when we fought for independence,” said Prof Oramah.
The 4-day event is expected to be filled with breathtaking policy discourse, and Ghanaian and African cultural extravagance, according to Prof Oramah.
Speaking at the same event, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Republic of Ghana said his country is happy to host the bank’s 30th anniversary as well as the 30th annual meeting.
