Afreximbank and Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport Discuss Collaboration

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A delegation from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), led by the Vice-President, Dr. Alsnosy Balbaa, today in Cairo, visited Dr. Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), for discussions on potential collaboration between the academy and the continental trade finance institution.

Dr. Balbaa said that AASTMT was created in Egypt in 1972 as a centre of excellence for training in transport and engineering and that it currently had more than 22,000 students from Egypt and around the world.

He said that, over the years, the academy had expanded its educational curriculum to cover technology, computer science, communication and media, maritime research and international logistics and that it was setting up and equipping individual faculties and colleges in each field.

AASTMT had become a point of reference for quality in designated fields and was internationally renowned, he said, adding that it enjoyed several worldwide accreditations and was in joint ventures with other universities.

The academy provided advisory services to public and private organisations in Egypt and beyond and was seeking to intensify links with other African countries to expand its reach and develop its advisory services across the continent, said Dr. Balbaa.

Responding, President Oramah noted that AASTMT had become an African success story in higher education and said that the Afreximbank’s Intra-African Trade and Industrialisation Strategies called for strong capacity building.

The academy’s high-level expertise and advisory services could be of interest to African countries in pursuing their economic development, especially with regard to studies, design and implementation of sustainable industrial and logistics infrastructure projects, he added.