Afreximbank made history this week by breaking ground on the US$180 million trade centre, the first to be built outside Africa, as it moves to cement ties between the continent and the Caribbean.
The Afreximbank African Trade Centre (AATC) will be built in Bridgetown, Barbados.
The Barbados AATC is expected to enhance intra and extra-African trade, with a focus on countries of the Global South through Afreximbank’s Global Africa initiative.
Barbados donated the land for the AATC which, upon completion, the business complex will house Afreximbank’s CARICOM office, a conference facility, a technology and SME incubator, a Digital Trade Gateway, 100 room hotel, and a trade and exhibition centre, as well as office spaces for local, regional and international financial and policy organisations.
- Afreximbank bolsters Africa, Caribbean ties
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Mia Mottley, Barbados Prime Minister and CARICOM chairperson, highlighted the site’s historical significance as the location of Barbados’ first hospital, opened in 1844 to look after the health of emancipated slaves.
“My government stands proud here today to be able to bring in to the pantheon of financial institutions in this country, Afreximbank, not simply as an entity that is leasing a building from somebody for an office, but as an institution ready to lay roots and foundations in this country – the first AATC outside of Africa, just like Barbados was the first hub (for slaves) outside of the continent of Africa, and in so doing, we send the signal that we intend to be able to reclaim our Atlantic Destiny.”
Benedict Oramah, Afreximbank president and chairperson of the board of directors, expects the project to be completed in 30 months, "which would enable the bank to deepen its activities in the CARICOM”.
He said the project would create 1000 direct and indirect jobs during construction, in addition to nearly 50 SMEs that would be sub contractors and suppliers of construction materials, services, labour, and other services.
“More importantly, this AATC would underpin the delivery of the Bank’s expanded ambitions in the CARICOM, as we aspire to rapidly build trade and investment bridges that would help heal old wounds and unleash an era of shared prosperity in Africa and the Caribbean,” Oramah said.
Afreximbank initiated the AATC concept following a 2018 board decision to create trade facilitation hubs in key commercial capitals across Africa.
These hubs will provide integrated trade information, services, finance, and ancillary facilities. Nine leading commercial cities were selected to host the network of AATCs across Africa and the Caribbean. They include Abuja (Nigeria), Harare (Zimbabwe), Kampala (Uganda), Cairo (Egypt), Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire),Yaoundé (Cameroon), Bridgetown (Barbados), Kigali (Rwanda) and Tunis (Tunisia).They will serve to link buyers, sellers, suppliers, service providers, enterprises, governments, chambers of commerce, financial institutions, economic development organisations and the general African and global trade and investment community.
Afreximbank has extended its credit lines to CARICOM to the tune of US$2,5 billion, aiming to bolster the region’s development, particularly against the backdrop of Guyana and Suriname’s new oil discoveries, expected to impact the entire region once fully commercialised. In 2024, the bank provided Barbados with US$25 million for its Cricket World Cup sports complex refurbishment and currently has deals worth US$500 million in the pipeline.
Twelve of the 15 CARICOM States have signed the Afreximbank partnership agreement. Afreximbank opened a Caribbean office in Barbados in August 2023.
The African Union designated the diaspora as Africa’s sixth region in 2008. The bolstering of ties between Africa and the Caribbean is seen in the context of Global Africa, a gathering tipped to shape the course of the two regions' shared vision and aspirations.
