South Africa's department of trade, industry and competition on Monday invited companies to participate in the 2nd Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) set for September in Rwanda's capital Kigali, Rwanda.

The IATF provides a strategic platform to access an integrated African market of over one billion people joined together by the African Continental Free Trade Area, trade, industry and competition minister Ebrahim Patel said in a statement.

"We aim to increase, expand and diversify markets for the export of South African goods and services, and importantly, position South Africa as the partner of choice in Africa," he said.

"This we can do through profiling of the South African goods and services, and positioning and rebranding South Africa as a value added partner of choice. The IATF is a perfect platform for us to achieve this."

He said South Africa’s participation would not only expose companies to continental and global players, but would also emphasise the country’s commitment to intra-African trade and investment and the increase of intra-African trade from the current 16 percent.

The IATF consists of a seven-day trade show that provides a platform for sharing trade, investment and market information and enabling buyers and sellers, investors and countries to meet, discuss and conclude business deals.

IATF 2020 follows a successful inaugural edition held in Cairo in December 2018 which attracted over 1,000 exhibitors and 2,500 conference participants from 45 countries, generating over US$32 billion in trade deals.