The Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025) opened in Algiers this week with a strong call from African leaders to accelerate trade integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Co-convened by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the African Union Commission, and the AfCFTA Secretariat, the event is expected to facilitate trade and investment deals worth more than US$44 billion over its seven-day run.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune urged participating countries to deepen economic ties and build resilience against global shocks by strengthening intra-African trade flows. He highlighted Algeria’s regional infrastructure investments, including the Trans-Sahara Road, a regional gas pipeline, and new optic fibre networks, alongside expanded air and maritime links.
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The fair, hosted by Algeria for the first time, has attracted more than 2,000 exhibitors and thousands of buyers and visitors, with participation from 48 African countries, the highest since the event’s launch in 2018. Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chair of the IATF Advisory Council, said the fair has become “an engine accelerating trade expansion and investment flows” across the continent and beyond. He cited the US$2.9 billion Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project in Tanzania as one of the fair’s landmark achievements, a deal concluded at the 2018 edition in Cairo.
The latest Afreximbank African Trade Report 2025 shows intra-African trade rebounded strongly in 2024, reaching US$220.3 billion, a 12.4 percent increase from 2023. According to AfCFTA Secretary General Wamkele Mene, this growth reflects increasing confidence in regional integration and signals a shift away from reliance on raw commodity exports toward greater industrial diversification. “Machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and food products are beginning to take a larger share of Africa’s trade portfolio,” he noted.
Despite this progress, African Union Commission Deputy Chairperson Ambassador Selma Malika Haddadi cautioned that intra-African trade still accounts for just 15 percent of the continent’s total trade, even though nearly half of that is in manufactured goods. “This imbalance is not only the result of an unfair international trade regime, but also of choices we have made. Intra-African trade is and should be our point of focus,” she said.
Afreximbank President Prof. Benedict Oramah described the trade fair as “a formidable platform for the new struggle for economic independence” and a launchpad for African entrepreneurship, innovation, and cross-border investment. Since its inception, IATF has attracted more than 70,000 participants from 130 countries, hosted 4,500 exhibitors, and facilitated deals exceeding US$118 billion.
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The 2025 programme features a range of thematic days and forums designed to link trade with industrialisation, culture, and youth enterprise. Highlights include the Global Africa Diaspora Day, Algeria Investment Forum, Arise Industrialisation Day, the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), and the Africa Automotive Show. Dedicated spaces such as the AU Youth Start-Up platform will spotlight young entrepreneurs, while the Dangote Pavilion will showcase African industrial champions.
By bringing together leaders, investors, innovators, and cultural voices from across Africa and the Caribbean, IATF2025 seeks to consolidate Africa’s position as a single market of 1.4 billion people under the AfCFTA framework. Organisers say this year’s edition will serve not only as a marketplace for trade and investment but also as a stage for shaping Africa’s next chapter of economic transformation.
