Promoting business in Africa is Afreximbank‘s main focus. Based in Cairo, the bank has been working to encourage industry on the continent. In an interview with ATLANTICO during the Brazil Africa Forum 2019, the bank’s chief economist and research and cooperation director, Hippolyte Fofack, talk about challenging the status quo and encouraging the continent’s development in partnership with BRICS countries.
Promoting business in Africa is Afreximbank’s main focus. Hippolyte Fofack, the chief economist and director of research and cooperation at the bank, spoke for ATLANTICO about challenging the status quo and encouraging the development of the continent in partnership with BRICS countries.
“BRICS has become a global platform leading the south-south cooperation agenda,” says Fofack. He highlights the group’s role in the African industry, either actively being part of it as is the case in South Africa, or being a partner like Brazil and China.
Hippolyte Fofack bets on greater autonomy in Africa that was once very dependent on Europe. He says that if previously there was a major focus on exports, today the bank seeks to support the mainland market which generates more jobs and with its development. Thus, according to Fofack, it breaks with the status quo and promotes the African population itself. He exemplified the African Cocoa Initiative, a private-sector partnership with African governments to meet the demands of the cocoa sector.
+ Fofack attended the Brazil Africa Forum 2019, held in São Paulo in November. During the event, Afreximbank promoted the special session “Deepening economic partnerships between Brazil and Africa”. “It’s a very timely topic that resonates very well with the African bank’s import and export agenda,” said the executive.