The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) President Benedict Okey Oramah during the 9th Global Review of Aid for Trade, held from June 26-28 in Geneva. The agreement seeks to enhance cooperation between the two entities in food, trade, and fisheries sectors in Africa.
Under the MoU, the WTO and Afreximbank will focus on three main areas of mutual interest. Firstly, in food and agricultural trade, efforts will be made to deepen existing cooperation supporting the WTO's work on cotton development. Afreximbank will engage in the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) to help more African countries benefit from safe and inclusive trade. Additionally, technical assistance and capacity-building activities related to ongoing WTO negotiations and food security issues will be strengthened.
Regarding cotton development, the MoU emphasizes building on existing cooperation to explore a finance window aimed at strengthening cotton value chains across Africa, particularly focusing on the Cotton-4 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali, with Côte d'Ivoire as an observer.
Secondly, both organizations will collaborate on trade finance through active participation in their respective capacity-building activities.
Thirdly, further collaboration is highlighted in support of completing domestic acceptance processes and effectively implementing the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies adopted at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference. This includes promoting developing members' participation in ongoing negotiations.
The MoU also outlines potential general areas of cooperation such as joint efforts to support the ocean economy of African developing countries, sharing knowledge and best practices, providing technical assistance, and exploring collaboration on trade in goods and services, e-commerce, trade facilitation, investment, and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Director-General Okonjo-Iweala stated: “The signing of this MOU is timely as it reflects some of the key priorities of many of our members. I am particularly pleased to see that it will support members' efforts in agriculture and food security, advance efforts to address harmful fisheries subsidies, and promote cooperation on trade finance. I am especially pleased that Afreximbank has committed to explore the opening of a finance window that would assist the C-4 plus countries on their journey to scale value addition on the continent. I look forward to seeing real, on-the-ground results from this partnership.”
President Oramah commented: “The WTO Secretariat is a natural partner to Afreximbank given our shared mandate of promoting trade and trade-related activities. We are already working with the Secretariat on FIFA’s C4+ Cotton Initiative for which we have committed financing for project preparation for cotton transformation projects in Africa. Formalizing our relationship today signifies that we can go beyond our present collaboration to include other equally impactful interventions across key economic sectors in Africa.”
Additionally, Afreximbank signed a joint declaration pledging its cooperation with other signatories to invest in and support WTO's cotton value chain development projects in African countries. On June 26th earlier this year, organizations including Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), International Trade Centre (ITC), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and WTO signed this joint declaration.
Collaboration between WTO and Afreximbank began in 2022 when Afreximbank became involved in WTO's cotton initiatives. In February 2024, Afreximbank expanded its engagement by joining the WTO-FIFA joint project “Partenariat pour le Coton”. Since then, it has sponsored several studies focused on increasing investment in African cotton with aims to enhance economic returns and foster sustainable transformation within this sector.
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