By
Maxwell Awumah, GNA
Hohoe (V/R), Sept. 13, GNA – The $850 million
Chinese financing facility being made available to the African Export and
Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK) is expected to expand support to African businesses
seeking to diversify and expand their trade activities.
Professor Benedict Oramah, President of the
Bank, was reporting on the Bank’s participation in the recently concluded Forum
for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC 2018), held in Beijing.
A release, copied to the Ghana News Agency,
said the Bank used the opportunity of that event to sign agreements for a
$500-million facility with the China Development Bank and a $350-million
facility with Bank of China.
The China Development Bank facility is to
enable Afreximbank support trade enabling infrastructure projects across Africa
while the $350 million from the Bank of China is targeted at direct
bank-to-bank loans, participation in syndicated loans and trade finance, among
others.
The Bank of China agreement followed the
signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Chinese bank and
Afreximbank. Under the terms of the MoU, the two institutions committed to
collaborating in the identification of co-financing and co-investing
opportunities; cooperating in projects and transactions to enhance trade and
investment between China and Africa; and supporting projects under the “Belt
and Road” Initiative in order to bring shared development opportunities to
China and Africa.
Prof Oramah said that Afreximbank took
advantage of the participation to hold meetings with several high-level
personalities, including Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal, Faure Gnassingbé of
Togo and Dennis Sassou Ngueso of the Republic of Congo
The delegation also met with Zhang Qingsong,
the new President of China Exim Bank, to discuss areas of collaboration and
this meeting made the Afreximbank delegation the first to be formally received
by the China Exim Bank President in his new role.
Similar meetings were held with Liqun Jin,
Chairman and President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Liu
Liange, President of Bank of China.
The Afreximbank delegation also met with Jack
Ma, Chairman of the Alibaba Group, to hold discussions on areas of possible
collaboration.
GNA