Zimbabwe is projecting to clinch trade and investment deals worth US$20m at this year’s Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023), buoyed by the growing interest in the country’s products, the national trade development and promotion body, ZimTrade, has said.
The biennial fair opens Thursday (today) in Cairo, Egypt, and runs up to November 15.
Allan Majuru, ZimTrade CEO, told NewsDay Business that Zimbabwe’s participation at Africa’s leading trade fair was designed to “harness on the opportunities available across the continent and complement ongoing efforts by the Government to unlock business from excellent relations with all African states”.
“We are targeting at least US$20m worth of deals to be concluded during this fair, riding on the previous edition held in South Africa, as well as the growing appetite for Zimbabwean products across the continent,” Majuru said.
“We are already receiving inquiries from potential buyers looking to engage participating companies at the fair, and this indicates a huge interest by potential businesses to increase the visibility of Zimbabwean products in Africa.”
A Zimbabwe-Egypt Business Forum will be held on the sidelines of the exhibition to further strengthen linkages between Zimbabwean companies and distributors in Egypt, which is expected to scale up exports into the market, as well as unlock source of raw materials from Egypt for manufacturers in Zimbabwe, Majuru said.
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IATF2023 is jointly organised by Afreximbank in collaboration with Egypt, the African Union Commission, and the AfCFTA Secretariat to boost intra-African trade.
Organisers are bullish on a bigger and better fair this year.
IATF2023 is billed to attract 1,600 exhibitors from over 75 countries, over 35,000 participants from all 55 African countries and the rest of the world, including the diaspora. It is projected to generate trade deals worth over $ 43 billion.
The inaugural fair in 2018 had over 1000 exhibitors, more than 7000 visitors and trade and investment deals surpassed US$32bn. It had 45 countries.
IATF2021 had over 1500 exhibitors, 35000 visitors (13000 attended in person) and trade and investment deals signed reached US$42bn and 69 countries participated.