IATF2025 leaders urge action on $50B Africa deals

ALGIERS, Algeria — As the curtains closed on the 4th Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025) in Algiers, senior African trade leaders called for urgent action to ensure that the nearly 50 billion US dollars in deals signed during the weeklong event are implemented, while also pushing for stronger support for youth, women, and small businesses.

Jean-Louis Ekra, former president of Afreximbank, said the trade fair had proven its value as a platform for Africa’s economic growth.

“Judging from all the achievements in the scorecards, Algiers has proven that the IATF is a solid and powerful tool for African trade development,” he told delegates.

“Going forward, the first thing to do is to ensure that the 50 billion US dollars transactions signed here go to fruition and completion. That will be the real achievement.”

Ekra also urged organizers to bring more small enterprises and underrepresented groups into the trade system.

“We should promote more youth, SMEs, and women into the African trade circuit,” he said, adding that IATF should also widen its global reach.

“We’ve gone from about 80 countries to 132. But there are 185 in the world, and we must bring more on board.”

AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene emphasized that the agreements signed in Algiers must translate into measurable trade growth.

“The transactions concluded here, almost 50 billion US dollars, are very encouraging.

This shows that IATF is growing from strength to strength as the marketplace of the AfCFTA,” Mene said.

“We will deploy trade rules — including protocols on women, youth, and investment — to make sure we double intra-African trade by 2035.”

According to Afreximbank, intra-African trade reached 220 billion US dollars last year. Mene said the new commitments will help raise that figure.

For Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah, the fair’s success will ultimately be judged by implementation. “The taste of the pudding is in the eating. It is the extent to which we are able to implement the deals signed here that will count,” he said.

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Afreximbank, he added, will track and support every deal to ensure delivery by the next IATF in Lagos in 2027.

Oramah also urged African financial institutions to play a bigger role in future editions.

“It is awkward that apart from Shelter Afrique, I did not see other African development banks here. We must bring our financial institutions deliberately to support the trade being generated,” he said.

With record participation, billions in deals, and renewed calls for action, IATF2025 closed as the largest and most ambitious edition yet — but leaders warned the true test lies ahead.