The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) will hold a series of activities in Addis Ababa from June 19 to 23 to mark the 20th anniversary of its establishment, its president, Jean-Louis Ekra, announced in Cairo on Wednesday.
At a ceremony at the Afreximbank headquarters to kick off the 20th anniversary celebrations and to launch a specially designed logo and slogan, Ekra, in a statement on Wednesday, said that the anniversary was being organised to tie in with the 50th anniversary of the African Union, which is also taking place this year.
The statement said, in addition, because Afreximbank’s annual general meeting for 2013 would take place in Addis Ababa in June, Ethiopian capital was the optimal location for the bank to celebrate its anniversary.
Noting that 20 years in the life of an organisation was a the president said, “Since the establishment of Afreximbank in 1993, we have grown from a tiny entity with only a handful of pioneer staff members to an internationally respected organisation, delivering multi-billion-dollar deals in support of African trade and development. This achievement has only been possible because of the dedication and commitment of the staff — staff members who worked under very difficult, and sometimes inhospitable, conditions to build this institution, and those people who had the foresight to set up the bank in the first place”.
George Elombi, Afreximbank executive secretary and chairman of the organising committee for the anniversary, said that the activities planned for the celebrations included a series of seminars focusing on African trade and finance issues, including one that would deal with the Diaspora as a resource for trade and economic development in Africa.
