TXF talks to Abdulrahman Al Sowaidi, CEO of Qatar Development Bank (QDB), at the Exile Global 2025 event, discussing topics such as QDB's multifaceted product offering and its expansion within the international ECA market.

Ralf Schwarzhaupt, CEO, managing partner at Jebsen & Jessen Industrial Solutions, cautions that global uncertainty is making investors shy away from long term decisions. Regulation, the drift away from level playing fields in ECA financing, and banks being bottlenecks to refinancing also matter. Even so, export deals are getting structured, particularly in Africa. Pragmatism and flexibility are key to navigate through complexity and uncertainty.

West African cocoa production has been in decline amid poor yields and falling demand. But the Africa Cocoa Exchange aims to return cocoa pricing power to Africa, improve traceability and open up new credit opportunities in a sector that remains largely unsustainable.