On November 15th, Agence Ecofin reported that on November 14th, the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Pan African Industrial Park operator Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms (Arise IIP), as well as the governments of Chad, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Egypt, signed a financing agreement in Cairo. The agreement involves providing $2 billion in financing support for the Export Agriculture for Food Security (ExAFS) initiative.

     It is understood that agriculture accounts for about 25% of Africa's gross domestic product, providing a large number of trade opportunities for the African continent's free trade zone. But in 2022, nearly 20% of Africa's population (approximately 281 million people) will face malnutrition. The ExAFS initiative aims to promote the production, processing, and intra African trade of agricultural products, addressing food security issues by increasing basic food supply and increasing agricultural producer income.

     The initiative plans to establish Agricultural Product Processing Centers (ATC) through PPP, which will provide facilities for agricultural product collection, classification, storage, transportation, processing, and distribution, as well as agricultural services such as microcredit, promotion, training, and refrigeration.

     Prior to this, the African Export Import Bank announced on November 10th, in collaboration with the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, AriseIIP, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the establishment of the Special Agricultural Processing Zone (SAPZ) alliance to promote agricultural processing and urban-rural integration development in the African region. The alliance has raised $3 billion in start-up funds, including $1.1 billion from the African Development Bank and $1 billion from the African Export Import Bank, as well as other private investments, to promote the construction of 15 to 20 agricultural processing zone projects on the African continent.