Cape Town, South Africa, 12 March 2025 – The AfCFTA Secretary-General, H.E. Wamkele Mene, delivered remarks at the Inaugural Africa Trade Conference (ATC) hosted by Access Bank Plc, under the theme “Empowering Africa Through Trade, Innovation, and Sustainable Growth.”
In his address, H.E. Mene highlighted the current geopolitical complexities affecting global trade, stating: “In the midst of the weaponisation of trade rules, the question that we should answer is how Africa navigates these uncharted waters. As a continent, we have the political resolve and the ambition of those who came before us to strengthen intra-African trade through the creation of the AfCFTA Agreement, to ensure a conducive environment for fair, transparent, and sustainable trade within the continent.”
H.E. Mene commended Access Bank for its role in tackling Africa’s $81 billion trade finance gap, which disproportionately affects SMEs and domestic firms. He underscored the central role of financial services in enabling trade, particularly through the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Services, which facilitates cross-border trade, financial integration, and market expansion.
Addressing the challenges of trade finance, he stressed the urgent need for financial institutions to step up: “The cost of trade finance continues to be high. We need to redouble our efforts to capacitate trade finance. We need all our finance development institutions to be forward-looking in financing the backbone of those trading partners, especially our SMEs and, in the main, women and youth-owned enterprises. We therefore urge commercial banks to work with us as we engage our development finance partners to ensure mitigation of risk, thus enhancing trade financing for our small and medium enterprises.”
H.E. Mene also emphasised the importance of digital trade, citing the adoption of key annexes under the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade, which harmonises regulations and supports a single digital market for Africa. He called for greater investment in green finance, digital platforms, and trade infrastructure, ensuring inclusive economic transformation across the continent.
The Secretary-General concluded by reaffirming the AfCFTA Secretariat’s commitment to strengthening partnerships between banks, governments, and the private sector, ensuring the successful implementation of the AfCFTA as a driver of Africa’s long-term economic prosperity.
