Africa Trade Exchange (ATEX) – Trading Under the AfCFTA

The Africa Trade Exchange (ATEX) platform was launched last month to facilitate trading under the AfCFTA.

The Africa Trade Exchange (ATEX), a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform, was launched during the official opening of the 54th Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development (CoM2022) on 16 May in Dakar, Senegal. The launch took place in the presence of Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, who is also the Chairperson of the African Union.

The platform was developed by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the African Union and the AfCFTA Secretariat to serve as a B2B and business-to-government (B2G) digital marketplace. ATEX will enable pooled procurement of basic commodities to ensure countries have access to scarce supplies in a transparent manner. 

ATEX is connected to the digital ecosystem to support the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and provide buyers and member States with quality products from verified suppliers in a more efficient way at average cost, thereby improving cross-border trade.

Specifically:

• In the medium term, ATEX will respond to the agricultural and input scarcity resulting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The platform is geared towards accelerating food sovereignty through the revitalization of African agricultural production by connecting the demand for main agricultural commodities and inputs to major suppliers from the continent and, where necessary, from outside the continent. 
• In the longer term, ATEX aims to fulfill a business need by providing a comprehensive marketplace to facilitate the selling and buying of locally manufactured products within the continent based on AfCFTA rules.
• Digital trade under the AfCFTA facilitated by ATEX will enable African firms to integrate regional suppliers into their own supply chains, harnessing the resilience offered by regional value chains and efficiency from trade facilitation – reduced tariff and non-tariff barriers on the continent. 

Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), noted that ATEX will facilitate intra-Africa trade under the AfCFTA through an online common marketplace where African buyers and suppliers can connect, trade, and expand their markets.

Source: ECA