African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the prime minister of the Bahamas signed the Afreximbank Annual Meetings Host Country Agreement on Thursday.
The signing ceremony was held during a media briefing on Thursday in the Bahamas.
The 31st AAM2024 will be hosted in Nassau, Bahamas, from June 12 to 15, 2024.
The country’s prime minister, Philip Davis, said the signing ceremony boosted the Bahamas, Africa, and the Caribbean (AfriCarabian) visions.
“It is with immense pride that we officially sign the agreement for the Bahamas to host the AAM in June. Our ancestral history is marked by strength in the face of adversity, duty and creativity amid scarcity and the pursuit of self-determination.
“Our dreams, hopes and aspirations are encapsulated in this moment as we look forward to a future where Africa and the Caribbean stand shoulder to shoulder not just in solidarity but for economic collaboration for mutual prosperity,” said Mr Davis.
Mr Davis said the AAM2024 meeting in the Bahamas was a symbol of what Africa and the Caribbean could accomplish through duty and collaboration.
“In today’s world, amid economic and environmental challenges, instead of building more walls, we choose to build bridges of trade, innovation, financial integration and most importantly, bridges connecting our people and culture,” the Bahamas leader explained.
He said the Bahamas’ commitment to the mission was underscored by the preparations underway to ensure the AGM would be a forum for dialogue, impact deliberations, and collaborations.
Mr Davis said that in November 2022, the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries signed an agreement with AFreximbank to forge a future that would advance the African and Caribbean people and their economies.
The prime minister said Afreximbank’s commitment to expanding operations in the Caribbean was seen in its establishment of the Caribbean Africa Bank, adding that it was an example of the potential for development in the region.
Afreximbank’s president, Benedict Oramah, said signing the agreement would solidify the partnership between the bank and the Caribbean.
Mr Oramah said the partnership would form a platform for global Africa to take its destiny into its own hands. He said he was grateful to the prime minister, the government and the people of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas for the honour of agreeing to host the AAM2024.
Mr Oramah said the bank was working with the Bahamas government to develop an Afro-Caribbean marketplace in the Bahamas. When completed, he said it would be a permanent marketplace that would house manufacturing warehouses and be a distribution and logistic hub for various tradable merchandise that Africa and the Caribbean produce.
Mr Oramah said at least 4,000 participants were expected at the AAM2024, adding that the opening ceremony, which heads of state and governments would attend, would be held on June 13.
