BUSINESS REPORTER
The Afreximbank board has approved the opening of the bank’s CARICOM office in Barbados as the trade finance institution lays the foundation for the growth of trade and investments between Africa and the Caribbean.
The Afreximbank CARICOM office will support the implementation of the partnership agreement between Afreximbank and CARICOM Member States aimed at expanding Africa-Caribbean trade and investment relations, the pan African bank said in a statement.
Two thirds of CARICOM Member States have signed the agreement, which confers upon the signatories the status akin to those held by Africa participating states. It consolidates the bank’s efforts to promote and develop South-South trade, specifically trade between Africa and the Caribbean, in line with its Diaspora Strategy and African Union’s designation of the African Diaspora as Africa’s sixth region, Afreximbank said.
Benedict Oramah, Afreximbank president and chairman of the board, described the approval to set an office in Barbados as an “important milestone” as “we forge closer ties with our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean” to drive investment flows between Africa and the Caribbean which are currently “almost non-existent”.
“This strategic partnership will open the door for enhanced trade and investment between Africa and the Caribbean. We are poised to right the wrongs of the middle passage. This approval is an important step towards that end,” Oramah said.
The approval to set an office in Barbados comes barely a year after the first Africa-Caribbean trade and investment forum was held in the Barbadian capital, Bridgetown.
This has resulted in the Afreximbank board approving a Us$1.5bn facility to support eligible CARICOM States, with a commitment to increase this to US$3bn.
The financing will be targeted at supporting economic sectors identified as core to boosting the region’s prosperity, particularly the development of trade-enabling infrastructure, as well as boosting trade and investments between Africa and the CARICOM Member States while providing support to Small and Medium Enterprises.
Afreximbank said the establishment of CARICOM office was critical to facilitating operations of the bank in the Caribbean Community. It will bring Afreximbank’s products and initiatives closer to the business community and ensure that the bank rapidly ramps-up operations to promote stronger relations with the governments in the region towards the pursuit of mutually identified priorities, it said.
CARICOM has 15 member states and five associate members.
