"De-Commoditising" African exports: export development programme.

African industrial development lags behind that of much of the rest of the world, making the continent's economies heavily dependent on raw commodities and commodity-linked products and services. Breaking the cycle of dependency on natural resources means developing a manufacturing base that has its own specialities and can access markets both within Africa and in the rest of the world.

In response to the difficulties that emerging manufacturers have in finding the capital to take their goods to other markets, Afreximbank has created the Export Development Programme (EDP), which combines credit, risk bearing, twinning, market access and advisory services.

The EDP helps companies to take advantage of the bilateral and multilateral market access treaties and initiatives which have been made available to African exporters, such as the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the European Union's Africa, Caribbean and Pacific accords and trade agreements signed between African governments and India and China. The initiative also aims to help African non-commodity exporters find markets within Africa and foster regional initiatives, such as pipelines and power projects. It also focuses on increasing the intellectual property and branding component of African exports.

In support of the EDP, the Bank has forged strategic partnerships with African and non-African Exim banks, African and non-African banks and venture capital funds, governments and corporates.

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