The African Export-Import Bank (the “Bank” or “Afreximbank”) today, in Abuja, Nigeria entered into a Cooperation Agreement with the Africa Finance Corporation (“AFC” or the “Corporation”). The Agreement provides a framework for collaboration between the two institutions by harmonizing their resources for the promotion of trade and economic development in Africa. The Agreement, among other things, sets out the basis for joint origination and financing of trade and projects in Africa by the two institutions. The Agreement will contribute to significantly boosting African trade by several hundred million dollars. Mr. Jean-Louis EKRA, the President of Afreximbank, signed on behalf of the Bank while Mr. Andrew Alli, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Africa Finance Corporation signed on behalf of the Corporation.
“This Agreement underscores our strategic focus of leveraging Pan-African partnerships for addressing the challenges before our Continent especially in the context of the prevailing global financial crisis”, Mr. EKRA said in his statement at the ceremony. “Our common Member States can only begin to appreciate the value of the institutions they created through creative, result-oriented partnerships of the kind we are celebrating today”, he added. In his statement, Mr. Andrew Alli, the AFC CEO said “AFC is very pleased to be signing this cooperation agreement with a sister pan-African institution like Afreximbank. The recent global financial crisis has negatively impacted the ability of African banks and businesses to access trade finance lines, which are often the backbone of Africa’s business activity. By combining the collective resources and capacities of our two institutions, we will creatively offer appropriate solutions to assist African businesses to weather the current turbulence in the international financial markets, while laying the foundation for a sustained expansion of trade finance activities in Africa. It is in this spirit that AFC and Afreximbank have already collaborated on a major trade finance transaction and the signing of this agreement would facilitate the deepening of our collaborative efforts.”
The African Export-Import Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, as well as non-African investors, for the purposes of financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. The Bank was established by the adoption of its basic constitutive documents, namely, the Agreement for the Establishment of the Bank (the “Establishment Agreement”), which confers on the Bank the status of an international organization, and the Charter of the Bank, governing its corporate structure and operations. Afreximbank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
The Africa Finance Corporation is a hybrid investment bank and development finance institution established in 2007 to help mobilize and channel resources for Africa’s development. The Corporation focuses on the enhancement of infrastructure in Africa, in particular, power, transport, heavy industries, oil and gas, mining and telecommunications.