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Cairo Hosts Intra-African Trade Fair 2023 (IATF2023) Business Roadshow to Promote Trade between Egypt and Africa

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IATF2023

The third edition of the IATF will be happening here in this beautiful city of Cairo in November 2023

CAIRO, Egypt, July 9, 2023/APO Group/ — 

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (https://www.Afreximbank.com/), in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and the Ministry of Trade & Industry of Egypt hosted a high-level business roadshow, ahead of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF 2023) scheduled to hold on the 9th to 15th of November 2023 in Cairo, Egypt.

Under the theme “Promoting Egypt-Africa Trade and Investment Under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), ‘IATF2023 Egypt High-Level Business Roadshow’ brought together captains of industry, the business community, high-level government officials, the diplomatic community, as well as executives and senior officials of Afreximbank, AUC and AfCFTA Secretariat to deliberate on how the IATF is playing an instrumental role in boosting and promoting trade and investment opportunities under the AfCFTA between Egypt and the rest of Africa.

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairman of IATF2023 Advisory Council and Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria said “we are here today to demonstrate and reaffirm that the third edition of the IATF will be happening here in this beautiful city of Cairo in November 2023. We urge the business community to take advantage of IATF2023 and use it to explore business opportunities. Opportunities are huge and limitless. IATF2023 is expected to be bigger and better than the previous two editions and the event is expected to attract more than 1,600 exhibitors; over 35,000 visitors, buyers and conference delegates from all 55 African countries, and the rest of the world; with more than US$43 Billion in trade and investment deals.”

Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Afreximbank, said that the IATF was created to fast-track Africa’s economic integration through the AfCFTA. He added that “The biggest challenge on the continent is the lack of trade ad market information of what exists within the continent. This can be traced to the colonial era where Africa was divided into 55 domestic countries that had and continues to have very limited linkages with themselves. It created a situation where somebody in an African country knows more about what is happening in America, Europe and Asia than what is happening in a neighbouring country across the border. One way of dealing with this, is creating a platform like IATF, where Africans can gather to understand their markets, know themselves and understand more about the African countries. Egypt has been a major beneficiary of the IATF. At the first trade fair in 2018, which was held in Cairo, Egypt signed the largest share of deals out of the US$32 billion worth of trade and investment deals closed at the Trade Fair”.

Ambassador Albert Muchanga, AU Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals regarding the low levels of trade in Africa said “in order to develop intra African trade, we need very efficient and cost-effective road infrastructure, railway, shipping lines, airlines, airports and payment systems and fundamentally we need to produce goods and services that can be traded.  Producing and trading in raw materials cannot be the basis for intra-African trade. We need to move towards manufacturing and agro-processing so that these, based on endowments across African countries can be the basis for intra-African trade.”

Principal Communication Adviser, Ms. Grace Khoza representing the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat said “IATF is one platform that we believe creates an avenue through which Africans get to connect and know each other. Africans need to understand what products are produced in different regions of Africa that could be exported to other regions within Africa. Egypt being the second largest economy in Africa stands to benefit from immense opportunities presented by the IATF as an AfCFTA marketplace.

The event is expected to attract more than 1,600 exhibitors; over 35,000 visitors, buyers and conference delegates from all 55 African countries, and the rest of the world

H.E. Yahia El-Wathik, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry for the Arab Republic of Egypt, delivered remarks on behalf of H.E Hon. Eng. Ahmed Samir Minister of Trade and Industry and said: “IATF is becoming a prime event on the trade and economic level all over the African continent since its first edition proudly held in Egypt in 2018 witnessed participation from 1,100 exhibitors  with  up to US$32 billion in trade and investment  deals closed during the trade fair. The Egyptian Government considers African economic development as one of its top priorities. We seek to achieve this through promoting Africa to Africa investment, increasing intra-African trade, developing infrastructure projects and supporting industrialisation plans. Events like this are a true reflection of our strong commitment to materialise economic development which would be given a boost through the full implementation of the AfCFTA which is set to redefine African economic fortunes for the future.”   

The deputy minister’s address was followed by a panel session which discussed among other issues, unlocking Egypt’s export potential by leveraging AfCFTA for economic growth and continental integration. The panel session also explored various opportunities that exists under the AfCFTA for Egyptian manufacturers, exporters, investors, creatives and automotive sectors. It also took stock of Egypt’s current trade relations with Africa and discussed some of the challenges and opportunities involved with Egyptian companies operating across the continent.  Speakers included, Dr. Ahmed Fikry Abdel Wahab, Vice President, African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM); Mr. Ayman El Zoghby, Acting Director, Intra-African Trade Bank, Afreximbank;  Mr. Ahmed Sadek El Sewedy, President and Chief Executive Office, El Sewedy Electric; H.E. Yahia El-Wathik, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of the Arab Republic of Egypt; Mrs. Maii Assal, Chairperson, Egypt Expo and Convention Authority (EECA); and Mr. Ahmed Hanafi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LMTL Group Egypt.  

Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade Bank, Afreximbank, in her remarks at the event said “Today’s roadshow will provide you all, especially the business community with critical information on the IATF, its relevance to Africa’s transformation and integration ambitions and to support the implementation of the AfCFTA. It should serve as a rallying call for the full participation of the Egyptian business community at the IATF2023 in Cairo. I’m hoping that the opportunity will be seized”. Mrs. Awani also highlighted Afreximbank’s support to Egypt’s industrialisation and export development efforts. She said “ Afreximbank has consistently provided support to the Egyptian public and private sector. Since inception Afreximbank has provided financing support to Egypt in excess of US$ 32 billion, with US$ 28 billion coming in the past 5 years alone.  Our support to Egypt cuts across major sectors and industries considered strategic to the Government of Egypt and pivotal to the growth and development of the national economy. This support has helped strengthen Financial Institutions, the Energy Sector, Telecommunication, Health and Construction, the private sector, among others.”

The roadshow concluded with a ‘Media Launch’ which featured a high-level panel and Q&A with some of the key personalities behind the IATF. The session featured H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR Chairperson of the IATF2023 Advisory Council and Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank; H.E. Yahia El-Wathik, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry for the Arab Republic of Egypt; H.E. Amb. Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals; and Grace Khoza, Principal Communications Advisor, representing the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat.

The IATF2023 roadshow was a key opportunity for the Egyptian private sector to learn more about the opportunities and benefits of participating in the IATF2023, Africa’s premier trade and investment fair, which will be held between the 9th to 15th of November in Cairo. As Africa’s largest trade and investment fair, the event is not to be missed for importers and exporters looking to take advantage of a single market of 1.3 billion people created by the AfCFTA with a combined Gross Domestic Product of US 3.5 billion dollars.

The resoundingly successful inaugural trade fair held in Cairo, Egypt in 2018 was followed by an even more successful IATF2021 hosted in Durban. Collectively, the two editions of the Trade Fair brought together more than 2,500 exhibitors from 77 countries and generated over US$74 billion in deals, providing a glimpse of the immense potential that exists for intra-African trade. Building on this success, the third edition (IATF2023) holding in Cairo, Egypt, in November 2023, will again provide an opportunity for exhibitors to showcase their goods and services, engage in Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G) exchanges, and conclude business deals which will ensure that the momentum toward greater intra-African trade is sustained.

The Roadshow and Media Launch was preceded by the 6th IATF2023 Advisory Council meeting  which is chaired by H.E Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Reporting on the readiness of the various components of the event, including the Exhibition, the Conference, the IATF Virtual, the African Automotive Show, the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) programme, AU Youth Start-Up programme, Country Day, Diaspora Day, and Business to Business and Business to Government, the organisers demonstrated an overall satisfactory level of preparation.

To register and be part of IATF2023, interested exhibitors, buyers, trade visitors and delegates are invited to visit www.IntrAfricanTradeFair.com and sign up.  Follow our social media to get up-to-date information as well.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

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Africa gains governance momentum in the 2026 Chandler Good Government Index, but sustaining progress is the real test

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October 29, 2026

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Africa

Across Africa, average scores improved in six of the seven CGGI pillars over the past year, with the strongest gains in Helping People Rise and Financial Stewardship

This signals that stronger government capabilities are beginning to translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives

KIGALI, Rwanda, October 29, 2026/APO Group/ –Africa was the second best-performing region for governance progress in the 2026 Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI), with 71% of the African countries assessed in both 2025 and 2026 achieving higher overall scores. However, the continent remains the lowest-scoring region overall, highlighting the challenge of translating improvement in government capabilities into better outcomes for citizens.

 




 
 

These findings were highlighted by the Chandler Governance Group (CGG) at a joint session with the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) to launch the 13th edition of the Rwanda Governance Scorecard at the Kigali Serena Hotel on Thursday, 22 October 2026.

“This year, Africa’s strongest gains came in Financial Stewardship, followed by Helping People Rise, the CGGI’s outcomes pillar. This signals that stronger government capabilities are beginning to translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives, from access to quality education and healthcare to the public finances that fund them. The task now is to sustain that progress over the coming years,” says Dinesh Naidu, Director (Knowledge) at CGG.

Now in its sixth edition, the CGGI assesses government capabilities and effectiveness across 133 countries representing 94% of the world’s population, up from 120 countries in 2025. It measures 35 equally weighted indicators across seven pillars, providing governments with a framework to benchmark performance, identify gaps and learn from the experience of other countries.

Globally, the findings point to improving governance performance. Of the 120 countries assessed in both 2025 and 2026, 61% recorded higher scores, representing the highest annual share of countries improving since the Index launched in 2021. However, longer-term progress has been less consistent, with only 43% of the 104 countries tracked since 2021 recording an overall improvement.

Africa’s leading governments

Mauritius remains Africa’s highest-ranked country, placing 55th globally, followed by Rwanda (62nd), Botswana (70th), Morocco (79th) and Tanzania (80th). South Africa ranks sixth on the continent, in 85th place globally.

Rwanda features prominently in the discussion, ranking 11th globally for Leadership & Foresight and emerging as the highest-ranked low-income country in the Index. It ranks 61 places above where its income alone would predict. Across the Index, government capabilities track citizen outcomes more closely than national wealth does, suggesting that strengthening government capabilities matter in delivering better outcomes for citizens.

The joint session brings together the CGGI’s international benchmarks and the Rwanda Governance Scorecard’s assessment of governance in the Rwandan context, creating an opportunity to consider both global perspectives and country-specific priorities.

Progress across key governance pillars

Across Africa, average scores improved in six of the seven CGGI pillars over the past year, with the strongest gains in Helping People Rise and Financial Stewardship. These improvements point to progress in areas associated with public services, including healthcare and education, as well as the management of public finances.

Longer-term trends also highlight areas of progress. Between 2021 and 2026, nearly every African country assessed across the period improved its Data Capability score, with Morocco recording the largest gains. Ghana’s overall score improved in 2026, supported by stronger Financial Stewardship, while South Africa continues to show relative strength in Robust Laws & Policies, ranking 44th globally, and Attractive Marketplace, ranking 48th.

Despite these gains, the scale of the challenge remains clear. Africa’s regional average is still below its 2021 level, 23 of the 35 African countries in the 2026 Index rank outside the global top 100, and none is in the top 50. Seven African countries joined the Index this year: Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia and Togo.

“Rankings provide a useful starting point, but the broader value of the CGGI lies in helping governments understand where they are making progress and where further work is needed. Sustained improvements depend on the ability to strengthen institutions, manage resources responsibly and turn policy into meaningful outcomes for citizens,” says Naidu.

A tool for learning and improvement

The CGGI is designed as a practical diagnostic tool, helping governments identify gaps, track progress over time, and learn from peers facing similar constraints. The collaboration with the RGB brings international benchmarking together with locally grounded assessment.

“Every country faces its own governance challenges and is driven by varying priorities. Governments that are willing to take stock of the evidence and learn from peers to strengthen their institutions are well placed to achieve real improvements,” concludes Naidu.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Chandler Governance Group.

 

 




 

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Spiro brings electric motorcycles and battery-swapping technology to Ghana, expanding its pan-African footprint

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7 hours ago

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October 29, 2026

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Spiro

The integrated offering aims to reduce daily operating costs and minimise downtime, with battery swaps completed in just two minutes and potential savings of up to USD 2 per day compared with petrol-powered motorcycles

ACCRA, Ghana, October 29, 2026/APO Group/ —

  • Spiro’s entry into Ghana introduces the Ekon 450 M1 V3 electric motorcycle and its battery-swapping solution, bringing a new mobility option to commercial riders and delivery fleets.
  • The integrated offering aims to reduce daily operating costs and minimise downtime, with battery swaps completed in just two minutes and potential savings of up to USD 2 per day compared with petrol-powered motorcycles.
  • Test rides and product demonstrations across Greater Accra will support the rollout and help riders experience the benefits of electric mobility.

 




 
 

Spiro (www.Spironet.com), Africa’s largest electric mobility company, is expanding its footprint in Ghana with the introduction of the Ekon 450 M1 V3 electric motorcycle and its battery-swapping solution. Combining electric two-wheelers with access to charged batteries, Spiro aims to make everyday transport more affordable and practical for riders while supporting Ghana’s transition towards sustainable mobility.

For commercial riders and delivery fleets, fuel expenses and time spent off the road directly affect daily earnings. Spiro’s integrated offering addresses both challenges: riders can exchange a depleted battery for a charged one at a Spiro battery-swapping station in just two minutes, while potentially saving up to USD 2 per day in operating costs compared with conventional petrol-powered motorcycles.

Ghana represents a major opportunity for electric mobility, with a rapidly growing two-wheeler market and increasing demand from commercial riders and delivery fleets

Designed to meet the everyday mobility needs of African riders, the Ekon 450 M1 V3 offers an alternative to petrol-powered motorcycles. Supported by Spiro’s battery-swapping technology, it allows riders to get back on the road without waiting for their motorcycle to recharge.

Auroasish Choudhuri Managing Director Central and West Africa, commented: “Our entry into Ghana is an important step in strengthening Spiro’s presence in West Africa. Our focus is on building a local ecosystem that riders can rely on, combining electric motorcycles with convenient access to battery swapping. By working closely with local partners and listening to riders’ needs, we aim to support the long-term adoption of electric mobility in Ghana.”

Kaushik Burman, CEO Mobility of Spiro said: “Ghana represents a major opportunity for electric mobility, with a rapidly growing two-wheeler market and increasing demand from commercial riders and delivery fleets. By bringing the Ekon 450 M1 V3 together with our battery-swapping solution, we are addressing two key barriers to adoption: operating costs and access to charging infrastructure. Our ambition is to build a strong foundation for electric mobility to scale across Ghana.”

To support its rollout, Spiro is engaging with prospective customers through test rides, product demonstrations and live demonstrations of its battery-swapping technology across Greater Accra. These activities give riders the opportunity to experience the Ekon 450 M1 V3 and understand how battery swapping can fit into their daily routines.

Mr Maxwell Dodd, Managing Director of Spiro Ghana, said: “For riders in Ghana, the value of electric mobility lies in what it can deliver every day: lower operating costs, less downtime and more time on the road. Through the Ekon 450 M1 V3 and our battery-swapping solution, we want to make those benefits accessible and support riders as they make the transition to electric motorcycles.”

Ghana forms part of Spiro’s wider expansion across Africa. Building on its recent USD 270 million equity funding round and an additional USD 18 million in debt financing from the Africa Go Green Fund, the company is scaling its electric mobility ecosystem with the ambition of establishing a presence in 20 African markets. Spiro is also preparing to enter new countries, including Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Spiro.

 

 




 

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Huawei Wireless Unveils Innovation Breakthroughs to Pioneer New Communications Networks

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7 hours ago

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October 29, 2026

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Huawei

The innovation breakthroughs for pioneering new communications networks include RetinaMIMO, new materials, and OSCAR solution among other root technologies. By tackling coverage, energy consumption, and capacity challenges, the breakthroughs drive ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency. The breakthroughs have unlocked a wealth of new capabilities, including the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU, GigaGreen Plus series, and UBBPi series.
Huawei promotes A2A-T standards and drives commercial open-source OpenAN through extensive partnerships to build an open telecom agent ecosystem.

 




 
 

SHANGHAI, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 29 October 2026 – At Huawei Decoding China 2026, Fang Xiang, Corporate Vice President and President of Wireless Network Solution of Huawei, unveiled a series of innovation breakthroughs to pioneer new communications networks. The innovation breakthroughs mark major leaps in root technologies focused on ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency. With the breakthroughs, Huawei has launched the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU, GigaGreen Plus series, and UBBPi series. Additionally featuring the new progress in open ecosystem for telecom agents, the breakthroughs will lay a solid foundation for new communications networks.

With booming intelligent devices and services, new devices, traffic, and applications are taking shape in the mobile industry. The new devices are expanding network connectivity from people to things and agents, increasing the number of connections by 100 times. Device-cloud synergy for intelligent services calls for stronger uplink capabilities to support training and inference, shifting network focus from downlink dominance to both uplink and downlink. With new applications, come a diversity of new interaction modes, calling for higher standards in experience and driving networks to support ubiquitous steady ultra-low latency with a high reliability.

As the world steps into an intelligent era, the value of connectivity is not only about quantity—it’s more about quality. This has been inspiring Huawei to convert cutting-edge breakthroughs into the commercial practices of new communications networks by focusing on root technologies for ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency.

Pioneering ubiquitous experience

RetinaMIMO is a new pioneering technology designed to solve the challenge of concurrent ultra-high bandwidth and ubiquitous coverage. It features the industry’s first Retina scanning system that allows RF link topologies to be reconstructed to eliminate coverage collapse in the vertical direction. It also adopts a reconstructed antenna array architecture to address the diminishing marginal gains as array elements (AEs) increase.

Based on RetinaMIMO, Huawei has launched the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU. Compared with similar products with 1024 AEs, VitaAAU widens coverage by about 30%, enabling U6 GHz to match C-band in both horizontal and vertical directions. This enables operators to deliver U6 GHz coverage for new communications networks on their C-band sites, minimizing overall TCO. To date, VitaAAU has seen commercial adoption in the UAE and other markets, with peak downlink speeds exceeding 10 Gbps, making ubiquitous premium experience a reality.

Pioneering simplified, green networks

Huawei’s pioneering EP power amplifier (PA) architecture capitalizes on new materials and technologies to solve the problem of energy efficiency decline on higher frequency bands, maximizing energy conversion efficiency. The industry’s first-ever multimode dielectric filters allow antennas to have small dimensions and low power consumption on multi-channel networks with high frequency bands. Powered by new materials, technologies, and architectures, VitaAAU antenna is reduced to 1.5 m in diameter while supporting “0 Bit 0 Watt 0 Loss”, delivering superior energy saving efficiency. These innovations enable Huawei’s GigaGreen Plus series products to achieve significant reductions in dimensions, weight, and power consumption, better positioned to power simplified and green networks.

Pioneering superior spectral efficiency

Multi-band, multi-cell, and multi-user interference is a major restrictive factor of capacity. The time scaling of the Tau (τ) law is introduced to base stations for the first time to realize optimal dynamic resource scheduling across all domains based on the OSCAR solution. With low-latency bus and high-speed interconnect technology, a high-speed architecture is built to enable the real-time exchange of massive data. Thanks to software and hardware synergy, new UBBPi series products improve average user experience by 1.3 times while reducing power consumption by approximately 40%, further improving spectral and energy efficiency.

Pioneering open-source autonomous networks

Autonomous networks have emerged as an inevitable choice to deal with the growing AI services and increasing network complexity. RANSpirit is another industry first from Huawei, implementing single-domain network autonomy based on the telecom foundation model and digital twins. To date, RANSpirit is serving more than 1.2 million cells across 25 networks around the world, providing assistance to more than 2,000 engineers.

Extensive agent collaboration relies on an open, win-win ecosystem. This galvanizes Huawei to join industry partners to develop ecosystem standards, communities, and industry alliances. In terms of standards, Huawei adapts to the TM Forum, building a cross-agent foundation on the A2A-T standard and framework agreed upon by the industry. In terms of communities, Huawei jointly promotes neutral open-source communities and donates open-source agent components to the Linux Foundation, driving global collaboration and innovation. With regard to industry alliances, Huawei has taken the initiative to pool ecosystem strengths to accelerate business implementation based on the GSMA industry platform.

Fang concluded with the reiteration of Huawei’s unswerving pursuit of dual-drive innovation to promote new breakthroughs in mobile networks and work with partners from around the world to deepen the OpenAN ecosystem, advancing new communications networks through technological innovation and open collaboration.

FAQs

Q1: Why is it challenging to balance ultra-high bandwidth and ubiquitous coverage?

Ultra-high bandwidth depends on higher frequency bands. As we know, a higher frequency leads to a greater propagation loss of electromagnetic waves and a weaker ability for them to penetrate obstacles, because high-frequency signals attenuate fast and have short coverage distances, while ubiquitous coverage requires signals to travel a long distance in complex environments. Inherently, the two priorities pull in sharply opposite directions.

  




 

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