IAFT2020: We expect over $40 billion trade deals —- Afreximbank President

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<table class&equals;"wp-block-table"><tbody><tr><td>Professor&nbsp&semi; Benedict Oramah&comma; President of the African Export-Import Bank &lpar;Afreximbank&rpar;&comma; has said that the organisers of the Second Intra-African Trade Fair &lpar;IATF2020&rpar; expect it to surpass the achievements of the inaugural trade fair held in Cairo in 2018 by attracting 10&comma;000 participants and generating intra-African trade and investment deals worth more than &dollar;40 billion&period; <br>In a press release by African Media Agency&comma; AMA&comma; made available to OpenLife&comma; Oramah disclosed this on Saturday&comma; July 6 at the formal launch of IATF2020 during the African Continental Free Trade Area &lpar;AfCFTA&rpar; Business Forum 2019 held on the sidelines of the 12th Extraordinary Summit of African Union &lpar;AU&rpar; Heads of State in Niamey&period; <br> He told guests that the trade fair&comma; scheduled for Kigali from 1 to 7 September 2020&comma; would attract more than 1&comma;100 exhibitors from over 55 countries&period;<br> <br> &&num;8220&semi;Working with our esteemed partners&comma; we will exceed the achievements of 2018&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&comma; describing IATF2018 as a resounding success&comma; not in the colourful displays exhibited&comma; but in the showcasing of diversity of tradable goods by about 1&comma;100 exhibitors from 45 countries and in the execution of deals worth about &dollar;32 billion&period;&nbsp&semi;<br> <br> That trade fair resulted in a Nigerian technology company winning a &dollar;100-million contract to provide technology-based solutions to the South Sudanese government&semi; an Egyptian company winning contracts in many African countries to supply and install energy generation and distribution equipment worth close to &dollar;1 billion&semi; Egyptian and Tunisian companies signing a &dollar;50-million partnership deal to create a joint venture for assembling home appliances&semi; and the signing of a &dollar;3-billion energy generation project between an Egyptian company and an African government&comma; the largest-ever intra-African project executed exclusively by African entities&comma; including financial institutions&comma; he noted&period;<br> <br> &&num;8220&semi;The momentum created by the maiden IATF and the historic launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area &lpar;AfCFTA&rpar; will sustain the growth of cross-border trade and investments&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he affirmed&period;&nbsp&semi;<br> <br> Also speaking&comma; Ambassador Albert Muchanga&comma; the AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry&comma; said that the IATF was one of a set of activities planned by the African Union Commission to support implementation of the AfCFTA&period; The others included the African Trade Observatory&comma; a portal for real-time information on business opportunities&period;<br> <br> Soraya Hakuziyaremye&comma; Minister of Trade and Industry of Rwanda&comma; said that it is important African private sector takes advantage of IATF2020 to present and exchange their products and for entrepreneurs to use it to boost their visibility&period; <&sol;td><&sol;tr><&sol;tbody><&sol;table>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><&sol;p>&NewLine;