Algiers Positions Itself at the Heart of AfCFTA
From 4 to 10 September 2025, the Palais des Expositions in Algiers will become a continental crossroads as it hosts the fourth edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF). With 35 000 delegates expected from 140 countries and 1 600 corporate exhibitors, the fair stands as the most ambitious commercial gathering yet organised under the banner of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Algerian diplomats have characterised the effort as “a work of projection and observation,” signalling that the objectives transcend a conventional marketplace. Their assessment frames Algiers as a laboratory in which logistical prowess, industrial potential and proactive diplomacy will be simultaneously tested before a pan-African audience.
The selection of Algeria is no accident. Since independence, the country has pursued an activist foreign policy in support of African liberation and unity. That legacy translates naturally into economic statecraft: by hosting the fair under the evocative theme “Gateway to New Opportunities,” Algiers re-asserts itself as a pivotal node between Mediterranean commerce and sub-Saharan supply chains. The AfCFTA framework offers the institutional channel, but the fair provides a tangible arena where tariff schedules meet boardroom negotiations.
Record Attendance and Projected Deals
Organisers forecast that trade and investment agreements could exceed US$44 billion, a figure that would eclipse the cumulative accomplishments of previous editions held in Cairo (2018 and 2023) and Durban (2021). Such optimism rests on visible momentum: since its inception the IATF has already mobilised more than US$100 billion in commitments, giving empirical weight to the continental appetite for intra-African supply chains.
Algeria’s diplomatic mission has underlined the breadth of preparatory work required to translate this ambition into measurable outcomes. Customs facilitation, freight corridors, business‐to‐business matchmaking, and an extensive hospitality architecture are being marshalled to ensure that visiting delegations can conclude transactions without procedural frictions. Behind the scenes, the Algerian treasury and commercial banks are expected to accompany the process with trade-finance instruments, while logistical agencies streamline port and airport interfaces. The objective, according to Algerian officials, is to transform the fair into a durable lever of diversification and a visible testament to the country’s manufacturing resurgence.
Political Symbolism Echoing Pan-African Heritage
Algeria’s political leadership views the IATF as a symbolic extension of its historic Pan-African vocation. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, described by his envoys as “faithful to a tradition of solidarity,” has repeatedly invoked the slogan “Africa for Africans” first proclaimed in Algiers during the early years of the Organisation of African Unity. By coupling that narrative with contemporary industrial objectives, the authorities seek to embed the AfCFTA in a broader continuum of continental agency.
Diplomats point to the fair as an inflection point. It offers a platform for African entrepreneurs to meet without intermediaries, an embodiment of the shift from political emancipation to economic empowerment. In that sense, the IATF operates not only as a commercial marketplace but also as a staging ground for strategic conversations on value-chain localisation, technology transfer and the gradual harmonisation of standards. The convergence is expected to reinforce Algeria’s election to several leadership bodies within the African Union, lending additional institutional gravitas to the venue.
Strategic Implications for Central African Partners
For Central African economies—Congo-Brazzaville among them—the Algiers fair is equally consequential. AfCFTA tariff dismantling can exert a direct impact on the diversification agendas championed in Brazzaville, notably in agribusiness and light manufacturing. By participating in Algiers, Congolese firms gain access to a continent-wide showroom where they can court investment, secure distribution contracts and benchmark their products against regional standards, all without the asymmetries commonly encountered on extra-continental markets.
Officials in Algiers have stressed that infrastructure inter-connectivity will figure prominently in side-events, a consideration of particular relevance for land-linked Central African states seeking northern maritime gateways. In the words of one Algerian envoy, the fair constitutes “a structural opportunity to align trade corridors with political solidarity.” Such framing aligns seamlessly with President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s own calls for pragmatic regionalism and reinforces the principle that economic integration flourishes when underpinned by stable diplomatic understandings.
While the fair is a short-term occurrence, its aftershocks are designed to be long-lasting. Contracts signed under its auspices are expected to trigger follow-up missions, feasibility studies and joint ventures across the continent, including in Pointe-Noire and Oyo industrial zones. By offering a stage where Central and North African actors can negotiate on equal footing, Algiers effectively shortens geographic and psychological distances, embedding Congo-Brazzaville more firmly within the continental commercial fabric.
Toward a Continental Market Architecture
Beyond the immediate deal-making, the fourth IATF serves as a litmus test for the AfCFTA itself. The fair’s scale obliges African states to confront practical questions of rules-of-origin verification, dispute resolution and payment settlement systems. Success in Algiers would therefore reverberate in the corridors of Addis Ababa and in national ministries of trade, offering empirical validation that the continental market is not merely a legal construct but a functioning reality.
In diplomatic communiqués, Algerian representatives emphasise that the fair aims “to elevate intra-African co-operation to a structuring level.” By situating the event within a narrative of continental convergence, they underscore that the journey to a US$2.5-trillion unified market is incremental yet tangible. Each memorandum signed, crate shipped and service contracted constitutes a brick in that architecture.
The fourth IATF, then, is less a destination than a waypoint—an arena where historical solidarity, logistical innovation and commercial ambition intersect. As delegations prepare to converge on Algiers, the fair encapsulates a shared wager: that Africans trading with Africans can redefine the economic cartography of the continent and, in so doing, affirm the strategic autonomy long envisioned by its founding fathers.