Global Courant
Hosting the 29th Session of the Executive Committee of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (at Ciala Resorts in Kisumu, Kenya) provided the opportunity to host a workshop for the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on June 2, 2023 to address the leaders of Africa’s sub-national and local governments.
The workshop was organized at the initiative of the government of Kisumu County in collaboration with UCLG Africa and Afreximbank. In attendance were leaders from sub-national and local governments, including the governors and vice-governors of the Lake Region Economic Bloc, the members of the UCLG Africa Executive Committee and Secretariat, and Kisumu County government officials and officials.
Kisumu Governor Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyongo’o stressed the importance of establishing this initiative. “We appreciated the opportunity for Afreximbank to come on board to support sub-national governments. The leaders of UCLG Africa have long argued over this and have therefore created the Africa Territorial Trade and Investment Agency (ATIA). This today adds to this opportunity that we welcome to this platform Afreximbank. Together we believe that Africa will develop,” he said.
“Every development is local. It means if you want to grow, you start locally. We created ATIA because we wanted sub-national local governments of Africa to participate in the realization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). UCLG Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Afeximbank to improve the level of investment at the sub-sovereign level. So that this becomes a changing factor for the development of this continent,” said Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of UCLG Africa.
Note that the Memorandum of Understanding between Afreximbank and UCLG Africa contains a detailed implementation plan that will ensure that the ideals of the partnership to improve the governance and economic conditions of sub-sovereign governments are achieved and that a data management system is developed to stimulate economic development in African regions.
Dr. Gainmore Zanamwe, Acting Director, Intra-African Trade Bank, presented Afreximbank’s key financing products of interest to sub-sovereign governments. “We want to work with you to help you build your development projects. And for those who have already launched their projects, we can support you in finding investors. Because we believe that things are actually done on a sub-national level,” he explains.
Mr. Zanamwe presented a suite of tools and products developed by Afreximbank to help sub-sovereign governments identify business and trade opportunities and support the design of a portfolio of bankable projects that would help change sub-sovereign sustainable development trajectories. sovereign governments in Africa.
Among these tools and products, Mr. Zanamwe the following:
–Afreximbank Project Preparation Facility (APPF): an important tool through which the bank supports the development of projects from the concept stage to a stage of their bankability in order to attract the attention of investors;
– African Continental Free Trade Zone Adjustment Fund (AfCFTA): The fund supports African countries and the private sector to participate effectively in the new trading environment established under the AfCFTA.
– Transit Guarantee Scheme: which facilitates the movement of goods within Regional Economic Communities (RECs) or across the continent using a single technology that enables continental bonds to promote intra-African trade under the AfCFTA
–Industrial Parks and Special Economic Zones, to facilitate the emergence and expansion of Industrial Parks (IPs) and Export Processing Zones (EPZs) focused on light manufacturing and agro-processing.
–Export Trading Companies: Addressing institutional market failures by providing market information, aggregating products, finding markets and helping manufacturers, SMEs and informal cross-border traders to participate in international trade.
–The Africa Trade Gateway: internet platform dedicated to African international trade in Africa.
-Intra-African investment finance: focus on foreign direct investment or African direct investment financing. It supports the establishment and/or expansion of businesses by an entity from one African country in another African country
–Intra-African Investment Guarantee: aiming to protect investors against risk events that could affect their investment rights or income
–Contract-Related Guarantees: Reissue of a wide variety of specialized guarantees (ie bid guarantees, performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees and retention guarantees) issued by FIs to African construction/contracting companies to perform construction services in other African countries.
Participants expressed interest in getting support for Afreximbank to write fundable projects and access to investors. During the very lively debate that followed Afreximbank’s presentation, Mr. George Mwanza, Mayor of Chapati City (Zambia) and Vice President of the Network of African Young Elected Local Officials (YELO), for “a strong involvement of youth and women in project funding, but only through UCLG Africa, as delivery – and implementation partner of Afreximbank ».
After making comments and responding to questions raised during the debate, M. Zanamwe invited the workshop attendees to participate in the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF 2023), which will be held from 9 to 15 November 2023 will be held in Cairo, Egypt.
After the historic success of Africities 9, held in Kisumu, in May 2022, a summit that welcomed 13 000 participants, another milestone will be the organization of the Kisumu Investment Forum to be held in October 2023 as a result of the ongoing study on Local Economic Development of Kisumu County co-hosted by the Government of Kisumu County, Afreximbank and UCLG Africa.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa).
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