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L-R: Patrice Kitebi, Minister of Finance of the
DRC; Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra; Henri Yaw Mulang, Deputy Director,
Office of the President of the DRC; and Dr. Benedict Oramah, Executive Vice
President of Afreximbank.
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The
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is to become the next African country to
join the African Export-Import Bank as a member and shareholder, according to
indications from a high-powered government delegation that visited the Bank’s
Cairo headquarters on 13 February.
The delegation, led by Patrice Kitebi,
the Minister of Finance, informed Afreximbank officials that it was in Cairo to
gain better understanding of the role and activities of the Bank for a final
report to enable the Government conclude the signing and ratification process
to join the Bank.
Mr.
Kitebi said that all the necessary approvals had been concluded and that the
DRC expected to become a member of the Bank within a matter of weeks with the
signing and ratification of the instrument of accession to the Agreement
Establishing the Bank. That action will make it the 36th African
country to join the Bank.
Mr.
Kitebi said that the country would expect support from the Bank in several key
sectors, including agriculture, mining, exploitation of forest resources and
support for the private sector, particularly in terms of assisting with the
creation of Congolese champions of industry.
Earlier, Jean-Louis Ekra, President of
Afreximbank, told the Minister that the Bank shared the desire of President
Joseph Kabila of the DRC to achieve increased value addition to goods being
exported to from the country. The Bank already had facilities that could
help to address that challenge as well as facilities to assist in other areas,
once the membership was activated.
According to Mr. Ekra, Afreximbank
had been forced to turn down applications worth several hundred million dollars
from companies doing business in the DRC because the country was not a member
of the Bank. Once the membership became active, Congolese businesses would
automatically become eligible for all the facilities available through the
Bank, he added.
Under the terms of the 1993 Abidjan
Agreement on the establishment of the Bank, countries that did not sign the
Agreement before it entered into force, are required to issue an instrument of
acceptance and accession and then to ratify the Establishment Agreement
in order to fully activate their membership.
Currently, the participating members include Angola, Benin, Botswana,
Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d ‘ Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania and Mauritius.
Others are Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra
Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Liberia
and Seychelles.
The DRC’s neighbour, the Republic of Congo, signed the instrument of
accession in July 2013.
Obi Emekekwue
Afreximbank
External Communications
