Staff Writer
Africa’s premier trade and investment event, the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), will now operate as an independent, permanent African institution with its headquarters in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The new entity, the Intra-African Trade Fair Company (IATFCO), was unveiled during IATF2025 in Algiers to make the fair sustainable, scalable and aligned to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The decision followed a rigorous selection process and approval by the IATF Advisory Council.
IATF is held every two years and is co-convened by Afreximbank, the African Union Commission and the AfCFTA Secretariat.
Zimbabwe was selected as the host country from bids submitted by Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Announcing the decision, the chairman of the IATF Advisory Council and former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, said Zimbabwe was competitively chosen for its conferencing facilities, strong air connectivity, accommodation capacity and pledged land for expansion.
President and chairman of the Board of Afreximbank Benedict Oramah congratulated Zimbabwe and urged it to move quickly to establish the organisation.
“This is a huge milestone for IATF. It is encouraging that the Board of Afreximbank has approved an initial capitalisation of US$28 million for the institution. While we anticipate that the organisation would strive for financial sustainability, I would like to seize this opportunity to call on African governments, corporations, and financial institutions to support it during its early teething stage,” Oramah said.
IATF serves as a platform for businesses to showcase their goods and services, explore opportunities and exchange information. It taps into AfCFTA’s single market of over 1.4 billion people with a GDP of more than US$3.5 trillion.
The 2025 edition, held from 4 to 10 September in Algiers, attracted more than 112 000 visitors from 132 countries, welcomed 2 148 exhibitors, and recorded US$48.3 billion in trade and investment deals.
The IATF is designed to support increased intra-African trade and investment by facilitating the exchange of trade and market information within the AfCFTA framework.
Caption
Chairman of the IATF Advisory Council and former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, unveiled Zimbabwe as the host country of the newly established independent IATF entity.
- Photo: Contributed
