Cairo, 11 August 2021: – African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced funding and technical support to the Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA), an international nonprofit organization that aims to contribute to the development of Africa’s young leaders and enhance youth participation in the implementation and achievement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The support will cover YALDA’s activities and events, which aim to provide a platform for African youth both within Africa and in the diaspora. These activities encourage them to participate in the implementation of the AfCFTA under a campaign named the ‘Umoja Africa Campaign – Youth Contributing to the Implementation of the AfCFTA’.
The campaign will use various platforms to create awareness of the concepts, benefits, and opportunities that are available to youth through regional integration and intra-Africa trade. The campaign will work towards alleviating information asymmetry among Africa’s youth with respect to trade in Africa, generating conversations and discourse on youth involvement in the implementation of the AfCFTA.
Afreximbank joins the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Union – AfCFTA Secretariat, the International Trade Centre (ITC), and the United Nations Development Programme among institutions who have committed to engage Africa’s youth on the benefits of the AfCFTA.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, said:
“We are glad to be supporting YALDA to address information asymmetry around the AfCFTA. Creating awareness among the youth in Africa on the AfCFTA will encourage them to be more innovative and creative, empowering them to become leaders not only at home but across borders. This is the Africa we want and YALDA’s initiative aims to include youth voices in achieving the goals of the AfCFTA. We hope that as the Umoja Africa Campaign gets going, we will start to see the youth taking advantage of the AfCFTA to achieve better livelihoods for themselves and their local communities.”
About Afreximbank
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. Afreximbank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. The Bank has a rich history of intervening in support of African countries in times of crisis. Through the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) launched in April 2020, Afreximbank has disbursed more than US$6.5 billion in 2020 to help member countries manage the adverse impact of financial, economic, and health shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has completed the development of a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Afreximbank is working with the AU and the AfCFTASecretariat to develop an Adjustment Facility to support countries in effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of 2020, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees stood at US$21.5 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$3.4 billion. Afreximbank disbursed more than US$42 billion between 2016 and 2020. The Bank has ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A-), Moody’s (Baa1) and Fitch (BBB-). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
About YALDA
YALDA is an international non-profit organization that was established by a group of African students studying at Harvard University in 2004. The organization’s mission is anchored on a strong desire to achieve development on the African continent not only through collaboration between university students and other youth but by also creating long-lasting networks between the young leaders and leading professionals worldwide. The organization recognizes, as part of its fundamental responsibilities, the need to groom African youth and position them to take up leadership positions within their respective African communities to enable them to find autochthonous solutions to the myriads of problems confronting the African continent. The organization also provides a rallying point for Africans in diaspora and those with an interest in Africa to leverage their enormous skills and wealth in bringing desired development to Africa and its people. YALDA’s official headquarters are in Gaborone, Botswana and it has a presence in over 23 countries across the continent, the US and the UK. YALDA also holds a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Presently, YALDA actively collaborates and partners on initiatives with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), African Development Bank (AfDB), African Union (AU), United Nations Habitat and Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) – a programme of the United States State Department.
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