Intra-African Trade Fair Headquarters To Be Established In Harare

Harare has been selected to host the headquarters of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), in a bold move by its founders to turn the event into a fully independent institution.

The IATF was created by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to boost trade within Africa.

So far, trade fairs have been held in 2018, 2021 and 2023, with this year’s edition taking place in Algiers, Algeria.

Afreximbank president Benedict Oramah said the organisers had built a strong platform that had proved its worth, and it was now time to make it permanent and ease the load on Afreximbank and its partners, the AUC and AfCFTA Secretariat. Speaking at the opening of IATF 2025 last week, he said:

“The [IATF] Advisory Council has approved Harare, Zimbabwe, as the new headquarters of a new independent IATF entity.

“I congratulate the government of Zimbabwe for putting up a very strong bid and hope it will work assiduously with the council to quickly open the IATF as an independent, sustainable organisation in Harare.”

Oramah said Afreximbank would put in US$28 million to help get the new independent body off the ground.

He called on African governments, companies and financial institutions to back the project during its early teething stage, though he stressed the aim was for the organisation to become financially self-sufficient in the long run.

The decision to base the IATF in Harare was described as a strong vote of confidence in Zimbabwe from Afreximbank and its partners.

Harare already hosts Afreximbank’s regional office for southern Africa, and an Africa Trade Centre being built in the city is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

Oramah explained that making the IATF an independent body was a deliberate step to ease it away from the founding partners, who have been funding it for the past eight years.

IATF is Africa’s premier trade and investment platform, designed to boost commerce across the continent by connecting buyers, sellers, investors, and governments under the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

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