Your Excellency Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa;

Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government Here Present;

Your Excellency Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairperson of the Advisory Council of the Intra-African Trade Fair and Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;

Honourable Ministers;

Captains of Industry;

Exhibitors, Buyers and Sellers

Distinguished Panel Participants;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I greet each and every one of you

I am very happy to be part and parcel of this opening ceremony of the second edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair taking place in Durban, Kwa Zulu Natal, Republic of South Africa. 

I deliver my statement on behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E Moussa Faki Mahamat and the Deputy Chairperson Her Excellency Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa who cannot be with us due to commitments with other issues affecting Africa, our beloved continent.

 My statement will be brief. I am keen to listen to messages of good will from our leaders who are here with us this morning.

 I will begin by taking this opportunity to thank the Government and People of South Africa for hosting this event, despite the short notification and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

I also recognize the dedicated efforts of the Government and People of Rwanda who were committed to undertaking the continental responsibility of hosting this edition next year as a result of the supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which made it difficult to so in September, 2020.

In the same vein, I thank all the countries, companies and other stakeholders participating in this Fair. It is your participation that will make it a distinct success that we want it to be. With your presence, we are consolidating our efforts to create this emerging brand of the Intra-African Free Trade Area which started operating in December, 2018 in Cairo, Egypt.

When I came to the African Union Commission in 2017, one of my goals was to restart the All-Africa Trade Fair to leverage trade information in boosting intra-African trade and consequently, attaining and sustaining accelerated development which is both inclusive and sustainable.

In no time, I was linked to the African Export Import Bank who were working on the concept of the Intra-African Trade Fair. After signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, we settled for this name.

Along the way, we have shared historical information on the origins, operations, successes and challenges of the All-Africa Trade Fair which we using to develop the emerging brand of the Intra-African Trade Fair which brings all of us here today.

The private sector, small, medium and large scale as well as the African Diaspora are key partners in the Intra-African Trade Fair. To this end, the African Union Commission is enhancing collaboration with the African Diaspora and the continental private sector in the varied areas of manufacturing, agro-processing, mining, cotton and textiles, tourism, transport, communication and logistics among several others. 

Four days ago, in Cairo, Egypt, the African private sector adopted the constitution of the African Business Council and thereafter proceeded to elect the office bearers of President, four Vice Presidents and ten board members. The composition of the leadership brings on board, chambers of commerce, regional business councils and sector continental bodies. 

In the same spirit of promoting continent-wide collaboration, the private sector will this afternoon launch the Pan African Manufacturers Association.

We have also deepened our collaboration with civil society and academia.

All these stakeholders are constituent parts of our value creation efforts.  We strongly believe that we can achieve more with greater impact by working together than by working in silos.

As a demonstration of our commitment to leveraging trade information for the benefit of Africa, we also have the African Trade Observatory developed with financial support from the European Union and technical assistance from the International Trade Centre.

Visitors can come to our pavilion to see the range of information the Observatory offers. Beyond this, the AU Pavilion also show-case the fifteen flagship projects of the African Union Agenda 2063.

As stated earlier, I do not intend this to be a long statement.  

In this connection, I will end here and thank you all for your kind attention.