ACCRA Ghana, – Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves suggested that Areximbank re-examines its definition of the Caribbean to include non-CARICOM Countries in Latin America, washed by the Caribbean Sea and are populated by members of the African Diaspora.
In addressing a heads of state and government panel on “Delivering the Vision: The Benefits of Strong Continental Financial Institutions” at the bank’s 30th annual meeting in Ghana, Gonsalves pointed out that “CARICOM is 20 million people. A very important area; a lot of money here. But the countries washed by the Caribbean Sea outside of CARICOM are important,” Gonsalves advised.
“ A new middle passage is emerging; one which is underpinned by trade, investment, and socio-cultural exchange and aimed at correcting the ills of slavery. ”
He said he was not merely speaking about non-CARICOM islands in the Caribbean but also counties in Central and South America that are washed by the Caribbean Sea, namely Venezuela, Columbia, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Brazil.
He noted that Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and has 220 million people, half of which are of African descent.
“It is the largest group in a state of persons who are Africans or of African descent, outside of Nigeria,’ Gonsalves said, noting that Nigeria has 210 million people.
“Now, if the linkage takes place, using CARICOM as the bridge to make the link with these other areas, you are talking about 1.4 billion people in Africa plus 450 million people which I have just described,” Gonsalves said.
“That’s 1.85 billion people, professor. Imagine Africa Ex-Im Bank is linking and playing a leading role in almost one-quarter of the eight billion people in the world. Heavenly Father, that is something for your consideration.”
Gonsalves said that the framework for the inclusion of these countries is his Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and the Diaspora of Africa (ABCD) Commission, which CARICOM and the African Union have accepted.
“… the same way that the bank has forged links with CARICOM to oversee, to help to carry out the broad strategic purposes and to oversee the implementation of many of the things which you ask me about,” Gonsalves said.
President and chairman of the Afreximbank’s board of directors, Professor Benedict O. Oramah, saysca new middle passage is emerging; one which is underpinned by trade, investment, and socio-cultural exchange and aimed at correcting the ills of slavery and fragmentation.
The Afreximbank President told the annual meeting “we are supporting African investors to build ports, roads and power plants in the Caribbean; we are promoting cross acquisition of banks and Afreximbank is proud to be home to numerous interns from the Caribbean since 2021.”
Oramah said the history of Afreximbank is a “clear proof that we can only develop in the direction we choose by having well-resourced and professionally run institutional arrangements we own and control.
“It will also expedite and enable payments for intra-African trade in African currencies,” he said, noting that PAPSS makes it possible for African countries to trade with each other using local currencies, rather than with dollars, pounds, euros or other major international currencies.
“By this singular move, we are one step closer to a full integration of African and CARICOM economies,” he said, noting that with PAPSS, every African currency will become convertible within Africa.
“ The Association of CARICOM Central Banks adopted Afreximbank’s Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) as their preferred payment infrastructure, making it possible for African countries to trade with each other using local currencies, rather than dollars, pounds, euros or other major international currencies. ”
“Afreximbank backs the clearing and settlements with an amount of three billion US dollars. With this level of financial commitment to start up the initiative, you can now understand why for 60 years it never saw the light of day; you can now appreciate why we need our own institutions if we hope to attain our development aspirations.”
The Afreximbank president said that as international banks continue to withdraw from Africa, his financial institution has made significant progress in improving access to letters of credit and other trade services across the entire continent.
“We have SWIFT communication arrangements with almost 500 of the 600 regulated commercial banks in Africa, making Afreximbank perhaps the bank with the most extensive reach on the continent.”
Oramah said trade lines have been made available to more than 200 of those banks in an aggregate amount of over four billion US dollars, halfway to Afreximbank’s target of eight billion US dollars by the end of 2026.
“Whether you are in Comoros, Nigeria, Chad, Zimbabwe, Cape Verde or Tunisia, there is a bank that can offer you a window to Afreximbank services.”
Oramah said the bank has also brought a new kind of hope to Africa: “the capacity to confront global challenges without going a-begging”.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine crisis exposed the vulnerability of Africa in many ways.
“From the break of the pandemic in 2020 to the Ukraine crisis in 2022, the Bank has disbursed over US$45 billion into the continent, which enabled many governments, central and commercial banks, corporates, and SMEs to weather the combined effects of these crises by helping countries to honour maturing trade debt payment obligations; to pay for critical imports and to pursue strategic investments,” Oramah said.(WiredJA)
