With the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) having now ‘put down roots’ in the Caribbean in the form of its first regional outpost in Afreximbank there is the expectation that the region will be represented at the level of its respective leaders at the Bank’s forthcoming Annual Meeting in Nigeria scheduled for June 23-28 this year. Several years of aggressive advocacy in the region for closer business and economic ties between the Caribbean finally realized one of the first significant steps in that direction through the establishment of a Branch of the Bank in Barbados in August 2023.
The development had been preceded by a flurry of interaction between high-level representatives of the Bank and Caribbean Heads which discourses led to the establishment of Afreximbank, in Barbados, a development that was applauded across the region as a significant step in the ongoing search for strengthened social, cultural and economic ties between the Caribbean and Africa. Less than two years following the establishment of the regional Bank of the Afreximbank, there appears to be a push at the level of African leaders for a deepening of the ties that have recently been established.
President and Chairman of the Bank’s Board of Directors Professor Benedict Omrah is reported as articulating the expectation saying that the Bank’s Annual Meeting, “especially the opening ceremony on June 27….” will bring together “Heads of state, heads of regional oganizations from Africa and the Caribbean, as well as policymakers, academics and business leaders.” Any such meeting will mark a quantum leap in what, over the years, has been sporadic efforts to cement closer social and economic ties between the Caribbean and Africa.
