Fostering of greater intra-African trade will put Africa on the path to industrialization and greater relevance in global affairs, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) said on Tuesday.

Benedict Oramah, the bank's president said the sorry state of affairs that had seen Africa staying at the lowest runs of the development ladder was attributable to the fractious nature of the continent.

"With 54 countries, Africa is the continent with the highest number of constituent countries; it is the continent that is least interconnected infrastructure-wise; it is the region with the last intra-regional banking relationships; and, above all, it is the continent that trades least with itself," he said in remarks delivered at a first-ever continental conference on intra-African trade finance and payment systems and their impact on the achievement of enhanced trade among African countries.

The bank, he said, was committed to ensuring that intra-Africa trade will not be in the periphery of the continent's international trade and be tied to commodities, according to a statement emailed to Xinhua.

Fatima Haram Acyl, the African Union (AU) Commissioner for Trade and Industry, said ensuring effective trade finance was key to the achievement of trade development across Africa through the creation of businesses and jobs.

She said intra-Africa trade was a critical part of the continental's agenda which has been reaffirmed through the setting up of the Continental Free Trade Area.

Africa, she said, could not continue to be exporters of raw materials, adding that through the proposed free trading arrangement, Africa could achieve the much needed structural transformation and sustainable growth.

She however said banks will have a role to play in realizing Africa's industrialization through offering flexible interest rates.

Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra-and extra-African trade. It has to date approved almost 35 billion U.S. dollars in credit facilities for African businesses, including about 4.5 billion dollars in 2014.

(Xinhua News Agency May 3, 2016)