Aisha Maina Secures USD 40 Million St Kitts Port Deal And Takes Trade Roadshow From Grenada To Jamaica And Trinidad  – Jamaica Inquirer

Information Americas, ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Mon. Aug. 4, 2025: Aisha Maina, Managing Director of Aquarian Seek the advice of and founding father of Gemini Built-in Commodities, has accomplished an intensive week of engagements, capped by a USD 40 million deal to construct a Panamax deep-water port and particular financial zone in Basseterre, St. Kitts, that unite coverage, personal capital and exhausting infrastructure round a single goal: forging a dependable business bridge between Africa and the Caribbean.

The brand new port will anchor a ten sq. kilometre particular financial zone designed for agro-processing, gentle meeting and bonded warehousing. Feasibility research start in August, and monetary shut is focused for Q1 2026. The ability is anticipated to create 1000’s of jobs and entice an extra USD 300 million in personal funding. For Saint Kitts & Nevis, a nation of fewer than 60,000 folks, the venture positions the federation as a logistics hinge between 19 African and 12 Caribbean Commonwealth members. For exporters in West Africa, it removes a pricey European detour and delivers end-to-end digital customs visibility.

1. Port Signing In Grenada – July twenty eighth
 On the Afreximbank Afri-Caribbean Commerce and Funding Discussion board in Grenada, Maina co-signed a USD 40 million Letter of Curiosity with Afreximbank and the Authorities of St Kitts & Nevis. Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew witnessed the signing, whereas Honourable Samal Duggins, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Assets, signed for the island nation. The settlement funds a Panamax-capable deep-water port in Basseterre and a ten-square-kilometre particular financial zone for agro-processing and light-weight meeting.

“Africa and the Caribbean want belongings, not simply aspirations. With this port we transfer from promise to throughput, from discuss to tonnage. It’s the bodily spine of a commerce bridge that has been too lengthy within the making,” Maina stated on stage.

Duggins added: “Recent off the Afri-Caribbean Alternate, I proudly signed a landmark Letter of Curiosity with Afreximbank. Facility after facility, deal after deal, we’re not simply speaking transformation; we’re delivering it. The imaginative and prescient is obvious, the progress is actual, and the long run is now.”

2. Caribbean Funding Discussion board In Jamaica – July thirtieth
 From Montego Bay’s important stage, Maina confirmed that feasibility and environmental research for the Basseterre port will start in August. She outlined a hall that cuts Lagos-to-Basseterre crusing occasions to about seven days, eliminating pricey European detours.

“If personal sector doesn’t take cost of the method, we’ll stay the place we’ve been. Retreat or defeat aren’t choices,” she advised delegates.

3. Trans-Atlantic Symposium In Trinidad – August third
 Maina closed the week in Port of Spain, delivering the keynote “Why Caribbean and Africa Commerce and Funding and Financial Cooperation Matter” on the Trans-Atlantic Commerce and Funding Symposium organised by the Emancipation Help Committee of Trinidad and Tobago. She related port logistics, economic-zone clustering and new financing instruments to broader targets of youth employment, meals safety and diversified exports.

• Shorter transit occasions – Direct sailings take away European detours and decrease freight prices.
• Worth-addition hub – The particular financial zone lets African uncooked supplies be processed nearer to North American markets.
• Commonwealth relevance – One of many Commonwealth’s smallest states will host a strategic maritime asset linking 19 African and 12 Caribbean members.
• Non-public-capital management – Gemini Built-in Commodities co-invests with Afreximbank, putting execution danger on balance-sheet homeowners somewhat than coverage desks.

Momentum started in March with the Afri-Caribbean Funding Summit in Abuja, adopted by a June constitution of an Air Peace 777 carrying 120 Nigerian entrepreneurs and policymakers to Basseterre. The Grenada signing, Montego Bay affirmation and Trinidad keynote now merge these earlier steps right into a single infrastructure roadmap.

Aquarian Seek the advice of is a Nigeria-based advisory and funding agency specialising in commerce facilitation, human-capital improvement and infrastructure. Via Gemini Built-in Commodities, the corporate designs and executes tasks that join African markets to world worth chains, with a deal with Africa-Caribbean integration.