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Focus on Africa
New cooperation agreement strengthens private sector development across the continent
As published in the 01/2020 issue of the OPEC Fund Quarterly
OPEC Fund Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa (right) and TDB President and Chief Executive Admassu Tadesse signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen private sector development across Africa.
The OPEC Fund for International Development has signed a cooperation agreement with the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) that will support both organizations as they work together to promote the socioeconomic development of the private sector in their beneficiary countries.
The agreement will advance the growing strategic partnership between the OPEC Fund and TDB into co-financing, with more information sharing and joint transactions, to help maximize the development impact of the two organizations. OPEC Fund Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa and TDB President and Chief Executive Admassu Tadesse signed the agreement at the OPEC Fund’s headquarters in Vienna.
Dr Alkhalifa said: “We are pleased to deepen our cooperation in the form of this agreement. The continent of Africa remains a central part of the OPEC Fund’s development focus, with more than US$709 million in new operations approved in 2018 alone via our public, private, trade finance and grant financing windows.”
Tadesse said: “We value our growing relationship with the OPEC Fund – one that was taken to new heights [in 2017] when it became one of our institutional shareholders. We are thus delighted to advance our partnership yet again. Via this agreement, we look forward to jointly promoting the financing of private sector projects and transactions to advance sustainable development in the region … more than half of the bank’s portfolio directly and indirectly contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals.”
In 2018, the OPEC Fund signed a loan agreement of US$60 million with TDB to support international trade in the bank’s countries of operation. Also in 2018, the OPEC Fund invested US$20 million in the bank’s capital stock, providing a platform for the bank to enhance its financing of trade and infrastructure in its beneficiary countries. More generally, a partnership of 10 years has seen the OPEC Fund approve financing to TDB of some US$150 million for the benefit of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.
ABOUT TDB
Established in 1985, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is a multilateral, treaty-based, investment-grade development financial institution, with assets of US$6bn. The bank’s mandate is to finance and foster trade, regional economic integration and sustainable development through trade finance, project and infrastructure finance, asset management and advisory services.