Heads of WTO, Afreximbank sign agreement to boost cooperation on food, trade, fisheries
The MoU was signed by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Afreximbank President Benedict Okey Oramah on the sidelines of the 9th Global Review of Aid for Trade, held from 26-28 June in Geneva. It aims to facilitate close cooperation between the two parties in the specified areas in Africa.
Under the MoU, the WTO and Afreximbank will strengthen collaboration in three main areas of common interest. In the first targeted area — food and agricultural trade — the focus will be to deepen existing cooperation to support the WTO's work on cotton development, engage Afreximbank in the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) to enable more African countries to benefit from safe and inclusive trade, and strengthen technical assistance and capacity-building activities related to ongoing WTO negotiations and food security issues.
Notably, on the cotton issue, the MoU states that the two parties will build on their existing cooperation and explore a finance window to support the strengthening of cotton value chains across Africa, with particular emphasis on the Cotton-4 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali, with Côte d'Ivoire as an observer).
Secondly, the two organizations will also collaborate in the area of trade finance through active participation in their respective capacity-building activities.
Third, the MoU highlights further collaboration in support of completing domestic acceptance processes and effectively implementing the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies adopted at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference, as well as the participation of developing members in the ongoing negotiations.
In addition, the MoU outlines potential general areas of cooperation, including joint work to support the ocean economy of African developing countries, sharing knowledge and best practices, providing technical assistance, and exploring collaboration on trade in goods and services, e-commerce, trade facilitation, investment, and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
DG Okonjo-Iweala said: “The signing of this MOU is timely as it reflects some of the key priorities of many of our members. I am particularly pleased to see that it will support members' efforts in agriculture and food security, advance efforts to address harmful fisheries subsidies, and promote cooperation on trade finance. I am especially pleased that Afreximbank has committed to explore the opening of a finance window that would assist the C-4 plus countries on their journey to scale value addition on the continent. I look forward to seeing real, on-the-ground results from this partnership.”
President Oramah said: “The WTO Secretariat is a natural partner to Afreximbank given our shared mandate of promoting trade and trade-related activities. We are already working with the Secretariat on FIFA’s C4+ Cotton Initiative, for which we have committed financing for project preparation for cotton transformation projects in Africa. Formalizing our relationship today signifies that we can go beyond our present collaboration to include other equally impactful interventions across key economic sectors in Africa.”
Afreximbank also signed a joint declaration pledging its cooperation with other signatories to invest in and support the WTO's cotton value chain development projects in African countries. Earlier, on 26 June, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the WTO signed the joint declaration.
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The collaboration between the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Afreximbank started in 2022 when Afreximbank became involved in the WTO's cotton initiatives. In February 2024, Afreximbank expanded its engagement by joining the WTO-FIFA joint project “Partenariat pour le Coton”. Since then, the bank has sponsored several studies under this project, focusing on increasing investment in African cotton. These efforts aim to enhance economic returns and foster sustainable transformation within the sector.
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