North African Trade Finance Summit, June 7-8

This year’s North African Trade Finance Summit (NATF 2022) will be held in Cairo in early June.

The North African Trade Finance Summit (NATF 2022) will take place in Cairo on June 7 and 8 and will run under the theme of “Trade Resilience and Optimization Amidst Global Supply Chain Disruptions”.

The event will include panel discussions covering the latest developments in the trade finance sector and post-pandemic world trade. Special attention will be paid to the impact of the war in Ukraine. The Egyptian Cabinet has confirmed the attendance of business leaders, financial innovators and the founders of startups and “pioneering” companies.

Facilitating dialogue

The event is intended to facilitate dialogue on regional and international trade and export finance among North African countries and their export partners and is attended by representatives of ministries, government authorities, regulators, leading exporters, banking and financial Institutions, insurers and fintech companies from across North Africa.

The two-day event will bring together stakeholders and representatives of the finance industry to discuss and promote intra-African trade and international opportunities. The goal is to address the challenges in accessing trade finance and credit insurance solutions while promoting the use of technology to help the sector develop.

Panels and talks

The event will include the following talks and panels:

Keynote Speech: Agenda 2063 and the Economic Outlook for North Africa

Government Panel: Augmenting intra-African and Cross-Border Trade

Keynote: Addressing Barriers to the Growth of Trade Financing in North Africa

Exclusive C-suite Panel: Trade Optimization

Fireside Chat: Trade and Technology

Country-focused Panel: Egypt’s Trade with International Markets

Country-focused Panel: A Guide to Developing Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Sudan’s Export Sectors

Fire-side Chat: Optimizing Treasury Management

Exclusive Interview: Trade Risks Management

The impact of the Ukraine war

The event will also address the impact of the Ukraine war that has affected the global wheat market. Russia and Ukraine combined account for 30 percent of the global market’s wheat, cooking oil and grain supply. Both Middle Eastern and African states rely heavily on imports of wheat. Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa Abdulhakim Elwaer recently highlighted the fact that many states are relying on strategic stockpiles of food and hailed Egypt’s handling of the crisis. According to Elwaer, the government was agile in its response and managed the crisis through increased diversification while maintaining development work.

The registration form for the event can be found here.