The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says the fourth AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2025) has secured over $300 million in investment and trade deals.
Vincent Musumba, Afreximbank’s communications and events manager, in a statement on Friday said the forum was co-hosted by the bank and the government of Grenada.
The events manager said the forum saw the announcement of eight deals and memoranda in infrastructure, tourism, digital transformation, and trade finance.
According to Musumba, the two-day event attracted over 2,100 delegates from 80 countries, including 11 heads of state and government, government representatives, private sector leaders, and development partners.
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He said Dickon Mitchell, Grenada’s prime minister, reiterated the region’s resolve to institutionalise its collaboration with Africa.
“We have to be very deliberate about creating institutions that will, in fact, recreate the type of trade, investment, banking, and financial relationships that we want to build for ourselves,” Mitchell was quoted as saying.
“The reality is, what was created before was meant to entrap us.”
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Mitchell also called for unrestricted people-to-people movement between the regions, as he sees “no valid reason for maintaining the visa systems,” and biometrics allow to move past that.
Musumba said the ACTIF2025 concluded with a robust communiqué affirming both regions’ commitment to deeper collaboration, including the endorsement of the Global Africa Commission by several organisation of eastern Caribbean states.
The events manager said the communiqué recognised ACTIF2025 as a pivotal moment in building resilient cross-regional value chains and announced ACTIF2026.
He said the commission was expected to accelerate trade, culture, and investment frameworks across the diaspora and continent.
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Musumba said participants also committed to the establishment of a free trade arrangement, elimination of visa restrictions, support for air and maritime links, and expansion of digital, sports, and creative economy partnerships.
According to the events manager, Benedict Oramah, the outgoing Afreximbank president, was celebrated with a symbolic tree-planting ceremony in Camerhogne Park in St. George’s, Grenada, in his honour.
He added that the flamboyant tree, native to Madagascar and widely rooted across the Caribbean and Africa, was chosen for the ceremony due to its vibrant red blooms and symbolic resonance of vitality, peace, and growth.
George Elombi, the newly appointed Afreximbank president, emphasised the need for conviction and decisive action, noting that finance is the lifeline of trade.
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