At a dedicated side meeting for French-speaking chambers, ICC and CPCCAF set out the terms of a cooperation agreement, signed last month at ICC Global Headquarters in Paris, to promote open trade and investment, and facilitate the integration of businesses in Francophone Africa to the global economy.
The agreement will be relating to international trade, access to finance, dispute resolution and entrepreneurship.
Led by ICC coordinators in strategically key Francophone African countries, the partnership will mobilise the chamber network in 32 countries around key areas of ICC work enabling smaller businesses to expand internationally through digitalisation and the adoption of ICC tools and best practices for international trade. This includes training implemented in collaboration with ICC France.
Leaders from 15 chambers in Francophone Africa are participating in the 12th World Chambers Congress the 23-25 November in Dubai.
During today’s meeting of Francophone chambers, CPCCAF President Mounir Mouakhar underscored the important role of arbitration as a dispute resolution method, while Mr Denton stressed the advantage to French-speaking African companies in leveraging the tools and services that ICC develops in collaboration with leading experts on international trade, arbitration and entrepreneurship from within ICC’s network of over 45 million businesses worldwide.
Meeting participants unanimously supported the ICC-CPCCAF initiative. A first pilot is currently underway by a chamber from within CPCCAF’s network, with a view to extending the programme before to other French-speaking countries in Africa and, ultimately, creating a support centre for entrepreneurship and international trade in a French-speaking African metropolis.