Malawi Mission in Cairo Facilitates the Participation of Malawi Exhibitors At The Third Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023)
Malawi participated at the third Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023) that was held from 9th -15th November, 2023 in Cairo, Egypt. The fair was organized by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the African Union Commission and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat. The theme of the fair was “Connecting African Markets”. His Excellency Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera attended the Presidential summit of the fair on 13th November. The fair attracted 28,000 participants from across the globe with 1615 exhibitors from 61 countries who exhibited their products and services.
The Fair was intended to provide a unique platform for facilitating trade and investment information exchange in support of increased intra-African trade and investment, especially in the context of implementing the AfCFTA agreement. IATF brings together continental and global players to showcase and exhibit their goods and services and to explore business and investment opportunities in the continent. It also provides a platform to share trade, investment and market information with stakeholders and allows participants to discuss and identify solutions to the challenges confronting intra-African trade and investment. In addition to African participants, the fair was also open to businesses and investors from non-African countries interested in doing business in Africa and in supporting the continent’s transformation through industrialisation and export development.
The main objective of Malawi’s participation at the Fair was to identify market opportunities for Malawian products and services as well as promote investment opportunities in priority sectors which included Agriculture, Tourism, Mining and Energy.
Malawi’s participation at the fair was coordinated and facilitated by the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC) in collaboration with Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Export Development Fund (EDF). With support received from GIZ Malawi, UNDP, NICO Holdings, Illovo Sugar (Malawi) Plc and the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), Malawi managed to secure 300 Square Meter exhibition space. The Malawi delegation consisting of 75 members was led by the Minister of Trade and Industry (MoTI), Honorable Sosten Alfred Gwengwe.
