The Intra-African Trade Fair 2025 (IATF2025) opened in Algiers on September 4 with African leaders urging countries to accelerate intra-continental trade and deepen economic integration to drive growth, create jobs, and reduce exposure to global shocks.
At the opening ceremony, President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune called for stronger connectivity across Africa to boost trade flows. He cited Algeria’s regional infrastructure projects, including the Trans-Sahara Road, the Algeria Gas Pipe, and cross-border optic fibre, in addition to expanding air and maritime links.
“IATF2025 must be a catalyst for deeper economic ties,” President Tebboune said, stressing that stronger links would shield African economies from global geopolitical turbulence.
The week-long fair, hosted by Algeria and co-convened by Afreximbank, the African Union Commission, and the AfCFTA Secretariat, is projected to generate more than US$44 billion in trade and investment deals. Over 2,000 exhibitors from 48 countries and thousands of buyers are attending, making it the largest IATF since its launch in 2018.
Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairman of the IATF2025 Advisory Council, hailed the fair’s role in connecting African and global businesses. “In the past editions spanning over eight years, IATF has demonstrated the power to connect buyers, sellers, investors, innovators, and governments from every corner of Africa and now global Africa. IATF has become the engine accelerating trade expansion and investment flows,” Obasanjo said.
He cited the $2.9 billion Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project in Tanzania, agreed at IATF2018 in Cairo, as a landmark intra-African deal executed solely by African companies.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene highlighted recent momentum in intra-African trade, which rose 12.4% to $220.3 billion in 2024. “Intra-African trade rebounded strongly in 2024… This shift signals our continent’s transition from raw commodity dependency toward industrial diversification, a shift that will only be sustained by stronger logistics and manufacturing value chains,” Mene said.
AU Commission Deputy Chairperson Selma Malika Haddadi noted that Africa contributes just 2.9% to global trade and urged governments to prioritise internal markets. “Our internal trade can be a powerful agent for industrialisation… Intra-African trade still represents a mere 15% of total African trade. This imbalance is not only the result of an unfair international trade regime. It is also the result of choices we have made, and therefore choices we have the power to change,” she said.
Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah described IATF as a platform for Africa’s “new struggle for economic independence.”
“IATF is proving to be a formidable platform for the new struggle for economic independence of all Africans… IATF2025 marks a significant milestone in our journey towards attaining Africa’s economic emancipation, through intra-regional trade and investment,” Oramah said.
IATF2025 features a packed programme including the Global Africa Diaspora Day, the Algeria Investment Forum, Arise Industrialisation Day, Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), the Africa Automotive Show, the Dangote Pavilion, and the AU Youth Start-Up platform. Organisers say the event is designed to foster “game-changing conversations” and high-level negotiations to accelerate integration under the AfCFTA.
