African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) recently hosted a two-day meeting of the Steering Committee of the Partenariat pour le Coton (PPC), a global platform established to support transformation and value addition in the cotton-textile-garment (CTG) sector in developing countries.

With an initial focus on the C4+ countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Côte d'Ivoire), PPC aims to drive sustainable transformation and value addition in the CTG sector by enhancing economic returns, creating employment opportunities, and promoting economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Delivering the opening remarks at the meeting, held at Afreximbank Headquarters in Cairo from 28 to 29 April, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade and Export Development at Afreximbank, noted that development of the cotton sector presents significant opportunities to enhance economic growth across Africa— contributing between 45 and 60 per cent of GDP and foreign exchange earnings in some countries. However, she highlighted a recent study by the Steering Committee which revealed that textile and garment manufacturing sector in some C4+ countries remains at a nascent stage.

“Therefore, to upgrade and integrate into the global cotton sector value chain, we must address a range of issues, including low yields and limited processing capacity, climate change and variability, market fluctuations, global cotton prices, weak infrastructure and inadequate access to modern technology,” added Mrs. Awani.

She emphasised that, as a member of the C4+ initiative, Afreximbank is committed to supporting African countries to move up the cotton value chain – transforming raw cotton into textiles and clothing. Working with strategic partners, Afreximbank aims to help establish modern textile and garment industries in C4+ countries and across the continent to realise the development aspirations of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Mrs. Awani noted that the Steering Committee’s deliberations were centred on mobilising capital and investment to transform the African cotton sector. She highlighted several financial and non-financial instruments that Afreximbank could deploy to support this goal, including project preparation funding, tailored financing and advisory solutions, debt and equity financing, export advisory services, SME support, insurance solutions, digital platforms to  improve market access and compliance, and trade facilitation and investment promotion support.

“Through our active participation in the Partenariat pour le Coton, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting Africa’s drive for sustainable industrialisation and local value addition. By working alongside partners, we are helping unlock critical investments, strengthening technical capacity, and promoting sustainable practices across the cotton sector. The outcomes of this Steering Committee meeting represents an important step towards realising the C4+ countries’ vision of a globally competitive cotton-textile-garment industry. Afreximbank remains committed to championing initiatives that create jobs, boost trade and drive inclusive economic transformation," Mrs. Awani informed participants during the meeting.

Emphasising the importance of the outcome in his opening remarks, Mr. Jean-Marie Paugam, Deputy Director-General of World Trade Organisation (WTO), and Chairperson of the steering committee stated: ‘I hope that the discussions over these two days will yield concrete results for the industrialisation and local processing of cotton in partner countries. We will be able to report these results to WTO members at our next discussion on cotton, scheduled for the 14^th of May at the WTO, which will address all issues facing the cotton industry in the C4 and other developing countries.”

The meeting, which brought together key stakeholders working to advance sustainable industrialisation across Africa’s CTG value chain, also included the formal signing of an amendment to the Trust Fund Agreement between Afreximbank and UNIDO. This amendment reinforces Afreximbank’s US$ 80,230 grant to finance a baseline study critical to the development of the cotton-to-textile value chain under the PPC – delivered within a WTO-FIFA cooperation framework.

Participants included the Chairperson, Mr. Jean-Marie Paugam, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO); Mr. Gunther Berger, Managing Director at UNIDO; Ms. Alimatou Shadiya Assouman, Minister of Trade and Industry of Benin; and Mr. Eric Trachtenberg, Executive Director of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), among others. Also present were technical partners including Gherzi Textile Organization, which has supported the PPC process since the baseline study phase, and Otto Group Scan-Thor Group.

Membership of the PPC includes Afreximbank, WTO, UNIDO, ICAC, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), Better Cotton, FIFA, and the governments of the C4+ countries.