Algeria successfully hosted the latest Intra-African Trade Fair in Algiers, drawing wide continental and international participation and showcasing the country’s capacity to stage major events while promoting regional economic integration. The fair brought together government leaders, trade ministers, business delegates and thousands of visitors to explore trade and investment opportunities and to advance efforts to strengthen intra-African commerce and infrastructure links.
Organized by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the African Union Commission and the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the fair attracted high-level political representation and broad participation from the private sector. Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah reported attendance by 14 heads of state, six representatives of heads of state and 41 foreign ministers, with participation from 70 countries, including 49 African states. Exhibitor numbers reached 2,148 and more than 35,000 delegates attended, while visitor figures topped 60,650, providing a wide platform for trade and investment exchanges.
In his opening address, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune framed Africa as a continent of opportunity and outlined Algeria’s commitment to being an active partner in meeting Africa’s development challenges. He emphasized that the continent’s future depends on countries’ collective ability to build integrated infrastructure and an enabling investment climate that benefits all.
President Tebboune highlighted Algeria’s role in promoting regional and continental economic integration through major structural projects. He cited initiatives such as the trans-Saharan highway and national fiber-optic projects, plans to extend rail links into neighboring southern countries with lines toward Mali and Niger, and the launch of new air and maritime connections to better link North, West and Central Africa. He also noted efforts to expand the presence of Algerian banks across the continent to facilitate trade and finance.
On human capital and financial cooperation, Tebboune noted Algeria’s long-standing support for African students and professionals, citing an annual allocation of 8,000 scholarships for specializations including mathematics and artificial intelligence and a contribution to training roughly 65,000 African cadres since independence. He added that Algeria has written off about $1.5 billion in debt owed by 14 African countries and expressed the hope that Algerian ports would increasingly serve landlocked neighbors, improving access to international trade routes.
Tebboune concluded by urging collective action to turn the AfCFTA into a practical tool for development, calling for renewed momentum toward a stronger, more united and prosperous Africa. The fair’s organizers and participants presented it as a fresh impulse for deeper economic integration and expanded intra-African trade.
