IGAD held a meeting to validate the study on ” how to strengthen the IGAD Business Forum (IBF)”. The meeting was held on 2nd and 3rd May 2013 in Kampala. This meeting was attended by delegates from the national chambers of commerce and industry in the IGAD member states. In its role of facilitating regional integration and free trade IGAD Secretariat revived the IBF in May 2010. The IBF is the apex body of the national chambers of commerce and industry in the IGAD member states. The mission of IBF is to bring the voice of the private sector on board the regional integration agenda. This is done by inter alia, engaging the private sector in advocacy and policy issues in the sphere of economic cooperation and enhancing public private partnerships (PPP) under the guidance of IGAD Secretariat. The entire effort is geared to boosting intra African trade in tandem with the aspirations of the Abuja treaty and the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) to which IGAD as one of the eight RECs working in concert with AU and other development partners is engaged in.

It is against this background that IGAD Secretariat commissioned this study as a base line from which to determine how best to strengthen the IBF.  The expected results include a strategy that is envisaged to lead to a  more robust IBF that can mobilze its own resources in order to financially be self sustaing in the long term. This validation meeting is financed by EDF under the Regional Integration Support Program (RISP 2).

For more information please contact:
Joseph Rwanshote
Program Manager, Trade, Industry & Tourism,