Posted by Unknown / Friday, June 24, 2016 / No comments / Latest News
Afreximbank pledged $400 million to promote trade between African countries and Belarus.
A statement by Afreximbank quoted its President, Dr Benedict Oramah, as announcing the pledge when he met with Belarus officials and bankers in the capital, Minsk. Oramah said that Belarus’ current trade with Africa, which stood at 300 million dollars per annum, would rise to one billion dollars if Belarusian financial institutions contributed to the programme.
He said that Afreximbank would consider increasing its
contribution to the programme if the initial amount got exhausted.
Oramah, who was received by Gen-Col. Victor Sheiman,
Chief of Presidential Affairs of Belarus, said that Africa was in a hurry to
develop and was looking for suitable partners.
He said that Afreximbank needed suppliers of investment
and development good to work with to achieve that goal.
“With its expertise in mining, production of agricultural
equipment, road construction, bridge building and pipeline equipment, Belarus
was a natural partner which could supply the capital goods which Africa needed
for its development,” he said.
At the Belarus Potash Company, the bank president urged
the company to consider going into joint ventures with African businesses to
help the continent to achieve the goal of becoming the next food basket of the
world.
According to him, African countries are now giving
priority to modernising agriculture, using fertiliser to increase productivity.
“The joint ventures would help to increase production
through availability of fertiliser,” he said.
Earlier, Sheiman said that Belarus saw itself as a
prospective partner for African countries and was ready to deliver industrial
equipment.
Sheiman said that Belarus would set up local service
facilities on the continent in such sectors as agriculture, energy,
infrastructure and mining.
On her part, Elena Kudravets, Director General of the
Belarusian Potash Company, said that the company was ready to go into joint
ventures in Africa and was committed to growing on the continent.
Chairman of the Board of Development Bank of Belarus,
Sergei Roumas, said that the bank would support businesses exporting equipment
to African countries and would consider acquiring shares in Afreximbank.
Also, Pavel Kallaur, Chairman of the Board of the
National Bank of Belarus, said that the central bank was prepared to provide
any possible support to increase trade between Belarus and Africa.
The delegation included business leaders from Nigeria,
Cote d’Ivoire, Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Tanzania.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is the
foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing
and promoting intra and extra-African trade.
The Bank was established in October, 1993 by African
governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African
investors.
Since 1994, it has approved more than 41 billion dollars
in credit facilities for African businesses, including about 6.2 billion
dollars in 2015.
Afreximbank, with headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, had total
assets of 9.4 billion dollars as at April, 2016.
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