Why Zanzibar exudes investment forum optimism

PHOTO: One of the main foreign sponsers to the Investment Forum is the Afreximbank

Zanzibar is optimistic about striking profitable business deals during an investment and trade forum slated for November 30 to December 1, next month.

Business firms in the Isles are already upbeat about using the opportunity to attract foreign partners for joint ventures.

The Afreximbank is the main foreign sponsor, alongside the EABC—Africa Trade and Investment Council, a recently launched entity.

“The main objective of the forum is to promote trade, investment, and finance opportunities between Zanzibar and the rest of Africa,” said a brief on the event to The Citizen.

Such promotion will be undertaken in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which has since been operationalized.

Besides exploring potential business links between the Isles and “the rest of Africa,” it will also facilitate joint venture projects.

The African private-sector representatives will meet with Isles government and private-sector officials directly.

Afreximbank, in particular, will use the forum to strengthen its foothold in Zanzibar and the East African region through trade financing.

Afreximbank is a pan African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade.

The bank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of Africa’s trade, in particular intra-regional trade.