Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat has met with Fahd Al-Dosari, Chairperson of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa – BADEA, to discuss the latest developments in the 2nd Arab-Africa Trade Forum, that was organized by the BADEA and the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program (AATB), and was held under the patronage of Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt.
During the meeting, they discussed joint relations with BADEA and its role in revitalizing intra-regional trade between the Arab countries and Africa. Al-Mashat pinpointed the BADEA in Africa’s role in consolidating joint relations between countries, and in strengthening exports to African markets, through trade financing operations; praising the bank’s unremitting efforts in supporting countries’ recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as it provided about $171m to fund 20 operations, empowering member countries to combat the pandemic’s repercussions.
Al-Mashat affirmed the importance of enhancing the private sector’s role in pushing forward intra-regional trade between Arab and African countries. This is in addition to providing further funding to Egyptian banks so as to boost the penetration of Egyptian companies and exports to the African market.
For his part, Al-Dosari thanked Minister Al-Mashat and the Government of Egypt for their support to the Arab-Africa Trade Forum, adding that the forum witnessed over two days several discussions on crucial issues, where visions and points of view were exchanged, in order to enhance trade exchange between Arab and African countries.
Al-Dosari further mentioned that BADEA seeks to boost regional cooperation over the upcoming period, through benefiting from the development boom that is mainly attributed to the private sector. He also noted that the bank is seeking to consolidate cooperation with Egypt’s private sector, through its office in Egypt.
