The Intra-African Trade Fair 2021 (IATF 2021) concluded on Sunday in Durban, South Africa, with $36 billion in transactions completed during the week-long event.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the event was held physically in Durban, South Africa, with some participants joining virtually from all over the world.
During the closing ceremony, Mrs Kanayo Awani, Managing Director of Afreximbank’s Intra-African Trade Initiative, stated, “Let me just announce that as of now, we have $36 billion in deals concluded at IATF 2021.”
“This is one of the KPIs because the trade fair is not an end in itself, but rather a platform for developing business, growing intra-African trade, and doing business beyond here.”
“As of now, deals are still ongoing; we advertised for digital inputs into the deals.” We distributed notes for people to fill out for their deals, which are still being compiled.
“The IATF attracted 70 sponsors, with approximately 51 having exhibition stands.”
According to her, a total of 11,828 attendees physically attended the event, exceeding the target of around 10,000 attendees.
“We had four country days: South Africa, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria.” In the exhibition stands, 46 African countries were represented.
“In total, we had 59 countries participate, 46 from Africa and the rest from elsewhere.”
“When delegates, exhibitors, visitors, buyers, and speakers are counted, there were participants in IATF 2021 activities from 128 countries.”
“In terms of the number of exhibitors, we had a target of 1,100 as we continued to advertise, and I am happy to report that we exceeded that.” So we had 1,161 exhibitors from a variety of industries.
“The exhibiting companies at the main arena, the creative exhibitors – there were 833 exhibiting companies; the CANEX (Creative Africa Nexus) – there were 46 creative exhibitors, 47 youth exhibitors, 19 auto exhibitors, and 416 virtual exhibitors.”
“As we all know, the IATF virtual was running concurrently, so this was a hybrid program, and the statistics also showed that we had nearly 27,000 participants in the IATF virtual.”
Awani stated that the program was promoted through digital media and that various aspects of the program were live-streamed.
“There were side events that were not live-streamed even outside of this arena.”
“We received a lot of media attention, including 1,000 pieces of daily coverage across the continent in Arabic, English, French, and Portuguese.”
She thanked all sponsors and participants for their contributions to the event’s success and officially announced that the registration portal for the next edition, which will be held in Cote d’Ivoire in 2023, was now open.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairman of the IATF Advisory Council, praised the program’s organization.
“It is my distinct honor and privilege to speak to you at the conclusion of this second intra-African Trade Fair, IATF2021.
“I congratulate everyone, and I congratulate myself.” Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, deserves special recognition.
I must also thank Mrs Kanayo Awani for organizing the trade fair.
“I also thank the AU Commissioner for Economic Development, Industry, Trade, and Mining, Amb. Albert Muchanga, for his tireless efforts that have brought us to this point.”
“Similarly, not much would have been accomplished without the assistance of Amb. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) Secretariat.”
“Our gratitude cannot be complete without extending special thanks to our host, the Government and people of KwaZulu-Natal Province, and through them, the President and Government of the Federal Republic of South Africa, for the excellent hospitality we have experienced,” he said.