ECA, Afreximbank launch digital platform to boost intra-Africa trade

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Afreximbank have announced the development of the African Trade Exchange Platform (ATEX), a digital business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) tool to help boost intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
A statement by the ECA on Friday (27 January) also noted that the ATEX platform was developed in partnership with the African Union (AU) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat. According to the ECA, the platform will enable the trade of the main agricultural commodities and inputs imported by the continent from Russia and Ukraine, including cereals, fertilizer and associated inputs, oils, oilseed, other products, and inputs that support agricultural value chains. In short, it provides a safe and secure digital marketplace for grouping together of resources in Africa’s trade demand, as well as a one- point transparent and competitive access to essential supplies.
Speaking earlier on the importance of trade within the Least Developed Countries (LDC) in Africa and Haiti, of which 33 are in Africa, Stephen Karingi, ECA Director for Regional Integration and Trade Division, said that “mirroring Africa more broadly, the LDC’s largely import manufactured products and export goods low along critical value chains like fuel products, ores and metals, and food items.” According to ECA, over the past five years, about 80% of exports from African LDCs were intended to extra African countries, while about 79% of African LDCs imports were sourced from outside of the continent. The current trade patterns have exposed African LDCs to commodity price volatilities and global shocks, Karingi said and noted that the new ATEX platform developed digitally enabled the trade of the main agricultural commodities and inputs imported by the continent from Russia and Ukraine.