Live polling at the BAFT International Trade Conference in Chicago provided a revealing snapshot of sentiment across a number of current market issues in trade and technology.

China is hosting the world’s first international import expo. Jonathan Bell examines the development in what could be the start of a new era of trade focus for the world’s second largest economy.

SMEs are the engine behind Africa’s trade growth – but funding is scarce. Kofi Adomakoh, head of bank guarantees and special finance at Afreximbank, outlines the bank’s mantra, Impact 2021: Africa Transformed, and explains how improving access to trade finance for SMEs is key to promoting intra-African trade.

A deal of national importance that required a change of law to make it eligible for a sovereign guarantee, the MIDOR Expansion financing came in with solid ECA-backed pricing despite a list of hurdles in its two-year gestation.

There have been some key structural changes at Natixis over the past two years. Dominique Fraisse, global head of energy & natural resources, explains how the bank is focusing its resources in four key sectors, expanding its investment banking and advisory services, and aggressively promoting its originate-to-distribute model.