The African Export-Import Bank is rallying African leaders and business figures around industrialisation and intra-African trade ahead of its 33rd Annual Meetings, set for El Alamein, Egypt, from June 21 to 24, 2026, according to a report by Guardian Nigeria. The four-day gathering, themed Intra-African Trade and Industrialisation: Pathway to Economic Sovereignty, is expected to draw more than 4,000 delegates, including heads of state, central bank governors, policymakers, investors and business leaders from across the continent.
Bank officials have argued that Africa cannot build sustainable, lasting growth while remaining heavily dependent on external markets and raw commodity exports. Their message to delegates is that the continent's next phase of growth has to rest on stronger trade relationships between African countries themselves, expanded industrial processing capacity, and deeper economic integration, rather than another cycle of exporting unprocessed resources and importing finished goods.
The push builds on institutional groundwork already laid for continental integration, including the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, the African Collaborative Transit Guarantee Scheme, and the Intra-African Trade Fair. Afreximbank is positioning AAM2026 as the moment to translate those frameworks into faster, more concrete progress on actually moving goods, payments and investment between African markets.