The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) recently launched an African Cotton Initiative (AFRICOTIN) to help catalyse the African cotton sector, according to Kanayo Awani, managing director of the bank’s Intra-African Trade Initiative. It would involve upstream interventions boosting production and downstream interventions promoting and financing consumption of products.

Awani was speaking during the launch of the African Corner at the World Cotton Day organised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva on October 7.

The cotton value chain provides income for millions of people in Africa, especially those living in rural areas, and represented an important source of foreign exchange for many countries, she said.

Afreximbank had a cotton pipeline of about €400 million, she announced, including $195 million in textile and cotton parks in Burkina Faso and textile and garment industrial parks in Nigeria.

The African Corner, sponsored by Afreximbank, allowed the bank to showcase its support for the African cotton value chain and for the African fashion and design industry, said a press release from the bank.

The African Corner is a section of the WTO premises dedicated to African Cotton products and was designed to give exposure and recognition to African cotton and cotton stakeholders. The corner is also being used to develop collaboration with the private sector and seek investors for cotton-related industries and production in Africa.

Established in October 1993 by African governments, Afreximbank is the foremost pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.