February 22-23, 2017 - Rabat, Morocco
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) is organising the Launching Forum of the Arab-Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) Program – February 22-23, 2017, in Rabat – in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Minister-Delegate for Industry, Trade, Investment, and Digital Economy, in charge of Morocco’s Foreign Trade.
This Program reflects the significant role of trade as a lever of sustainable economic growth, job creation, and poverty alleviation, it is necessary to further capitalise on the existing – but still untapped – trade potential between Arab and Sub-Saharan African countries. The Arab-Africa Trade Bridges Program is designed to leverage new commercial partnerships, strengthen existing ones, and increase trade flows between the two regions; in addition, the Program shall enhance trade and investment through cooperation among trade and investment support institutions.
Over a two-days period, the Forum will be inaugurated by H.E. Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Minister of Industry, Trade Investment & Digital Economy and H.E Dr. Bandar M.H Hajjar, President IDB Group and will bring together high-level representatives from the Arab and Sub-Saharan countries members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), namely: Trade Ministers, Directors of Trade Promotion Institutions, and Chairpersons of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in addition to International Financial Institutions and banks.
On this occasion, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO of ITFC stated that: “This Forum is a platform to showcase the opportunities and the trade potential between the Arab and African countries. Trade Solutions opportunities including finance, logistical platforms, trade and credit insurance and infrastructure development will be presented during this important event, and will shape up the road map for the areas of development in both regions for the operation plan in the AATB program for the next three years.”
Choosing Morocco to launch this program, in Rabat, is a reflection of the Kingdom’s ability to establish partnerships with Sub-Saharan African countries. Morocco spares no efforts to support initiatives aimed at the economic and social development in African countries.
Besides launching the AATB Program, the forum will bring together economic actors in the region to examine cooperation prospects and possibilities of integration between them. The forum proceedings will be as follows: a ministerial session; two sessions around Arab-African economic partnership; the signing of three MoUs, workshops, and a seminar on business opportunities for African projects, financed by the Islamic Development Bank.
For full details visit: www.aatb-program.net
The Arab Africa Trade Bridges Program (AATB)
The Arab-Africa Trade Bridges was created upon a proposal of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) during the 7th meeting of the Coordination Group for the Reinforcement and Promotion of Cooperation in the Field of Foreign Trade and Export Credit Guarantee. Besides the ITFC, the group is composed of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Investments and Export Credits (ICIEC), the Arab Trade Finance Program (ATFP), the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), and the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman).
This program is the first initiative bringing together the biggest finance and trade institutions in the Arab and African regions – all OIC members. The goal of the program is to promote Arab-African trade relations through different actions aiming to bring together the economic players of the region.
In fact, trade volume between the OIC member states grew significantly during the 2005-2015 period, from US$271.45bn in 2005 to US$694.23bn in 2015, marking a 156% increase.
Indeed, coordinating the efforts of different OIC institutions – in the areas of trade finance and development, export credit guarantee, and trade promotion – led to increasing the intra-OIC trade share in total member-state trade, from 15.5% in 2005 to 20.33% in 2015, a 31.5% increase.
Regarding regional integration opportunities, and despite the strong cultural and social ties among the OIC’s Arab and African member states, a recent study by the International Trade Center (ITC), conducted between 2011 and 2015, shows that 17 countries in the Arab region have exported to the world US$1,006bn worth of exports, compared to only US$160bn for 22 Sub-Saharan African countries.
Intra-regional trade performance improved considerably over the years, albeit at a slower pace. This slowdown, which affects developing relations between the two regions, is due to several factors, such as market access issues, lack of information on markets and business opportunities, as well as logistical constraints (lack of appropriate infrastructures, transport, and weak or inappropriate international-trade support services).
In light of this information, the ITFC developed a three-year action plan to strengthen trade relations between OIC Arab and Sub-Saharan African state members. This action plan aims, among other expected objectives, to address the economic challenges of these countries and, mainly, to boost the economic and trade exchanges in various unexploited sectors. Indeed, Arab countries have processed manufactured goods – such as polymers, cement, iron and steel structures, and prefabricated buildings – with a high export potential to Africa. The agro-industrial sector is also under-exploited and the export potential of goods (such as sugar cane, wheat flour, milk, canned sardines, and soft drinks) to Africa could peak. On the other hand, Sub-Saharan African countries have a high export potential in livestock, coffee, and sesame seeds to OIC Arab countries. (The same can be said of cacao-based, agro-industrial goods and seafood.)
Through the measures undertaken as part of the AATB, OIC member states are served with numerous bilateral trade-development opportunities. This regional program on trade promotion aims at increasing exchanges to achieve economic integration and create a common market in the region. Due to the cooperation between trade and investment support institutions and the participation of regional economic actors, this program is considered as a lever to increase Arab-African trade exchanges.
© Press Release 2017
