Speakers

The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P

Prime Minister of Barbados

The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P., became Barbados' eighth and first female Prime Minister on May 25, 2018. Ms. Mottley was elected to the Parliament of Barbados in September 1994 as part of the new Barbados Labour Party Government.

Prior to that, she served as one of two Opposition Senators between 1991 and 1994. One of the youngest persons ever to be assigned a ministerial portfolio, Ms. Mottley was appointed Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture from 1994 to 2001. She later served as Attorney General and Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados from 2001 to 2008 and was the first female to hold that position.

H.E. Professor Benedict Oramah

President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Afreximbank

Prof. Benedict O. Oramah is the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export – Import Bank (“Afreximbank” or the “Bank”). As the President of Afreximbank, Prof. Oramah has grown the Bank significantly and improved its global appeal and relevance to the African continent. For instance, the Bank is playing a leading role in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which is the most significant multilateral development on the continent for decades. Prof. Oramah led the creation and is leading deployment of very innovative digital platforms that will boost intra-regional trade and investments by revolutionizing cross border payments and improving access to quality trade information. Under his leadership, Afreximbank is supporting the harmonization of Standards and the development of quality infrastructure across Africa as part of a wider industrialization and export development strategy. 

As Chair of the Board of Trustees of the African Union COVID-19 Response Fund, President Oramah is helping to coordinate grant mobilization and efficient utilization across Africa as well as coordinating the procurement and distribution of medical supplies among African countries. He is also leading other continental and private sector initiatives to scale up Africa’s health and economic response to the pandemic. As a recognition for his achievements, Prof. Oramah has received several honours and awards including his recent decoration by H.E. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, with the Russian State award of the Order of Friendship in 2019. Also, in 2019, he was bestowed with the “Knight of the National Order” by the Cameroonian Government and in the same year, he received an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree in Agricultural Economics from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Prof. Oramah was voted African Banker of the year by the African Banker Magazine in 2017 and 2022.