The longstanding partnership between the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) continues to grow from strength to strength, transforming African institutions and building a strong human resource base in support of the continent’s transformation agenda.
Over a period of five years, ending 2025, Afreximbank and ACBF will once again collaborate in knowledge-sharing, advocacy and promotion of trade and economic development in the African Union’s Member States.
The two pan-African institutions will work together on capacity development programmes that will lay a solid foundation not only for the efficient implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) but in contributing to the post-COVID-19 recovery of African economies through supporting and addressing their capacity needs as well.
The Afreximbank financial contribution follows the just ended joint program running from 2019 to 2021, focused on strengthening human and institutional capacity to support intra-African trade, in contribution to the sustainable development of African countries.
This collaboration has yielded some important results. For instance, ACBF published a paper and policy brief on the capacity imperatives for the development and use of factoring as an innovative trade financing tool to advance the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The publication was widely disseminated and it is influencing many policy makers in the promotion of factoring to advance their national trade policies.
ACBF, Afreximbank and the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) also developed a Trade Finance Capacity Building Program. The program includes a post graduate trade finance program and short professional development courses targeting senior staff and executives from financial institutions including Central Banks, Ministries of Finance and Justice, Trade Support Institutions, Competition Policy Authorities, Export Credit Agencies, Revenue Authorities, to mention just a few.
The program also targets officials from umbrella private sector bodies such as Chambers of Commerce, Bankers and Insurance Associations, Business Councils, Manufacturers and Exporters Associations as well as research institutions and civil society organizations working in the area of trade.
Overall, the program aims to ensure that a mass of trade finance experts is trained and groomed for the effective implementation of the AfCFTA.
