News Release: Republic Of Congo Formalizes Afreximbank Membership, Commits To Boosting Intra-African Trade

President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo yesterday in Brazzaville announced his country’s commitment to supporting the development of intra-African trade and industrialisation of the continent.

President Nguesso, who was speaking in his office when he presented the instrument of ratification of Congo’s accession to the Establishment Agreement of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to Dr. Benedict Oramah, President of the Bank, said that Congo would support Afreximbank’s strategy to increase trade among African countries and industrialize Africa.

The presentation of the instrument of ratification marked the full formalisation of Republic of Congo’s membership of Afreximbank.

Dr. Oramah said that with the ratification, Afreximbank would now be able to fully deploy its programmes and facilities in order to stimulate trade activities and develop value-added exports across Congo’s economic sectors while also providing much-needed finance for the construction of trade-enabling infrastructure.

He said that since August 2013 when the Republic of Congo became a member state, Afreximbank had disbursed over $220 million to Congolese entities, predominantly in the oil sector, and that the Bank planned to expand its trade development activities so as to contribute more meaningfully to the country’s economic transformation.

Also today, President Oramah met with the management of Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo, the Congolese national oil company, to explore opportunities for support to the petroleum and energy sectors.

Accompanying the President Oramah were Dr. George Elombi, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President in charge of Corporate Governance and Legal Services/Executive Secretary, Richman Dzene, Special Assistant to the President, and Fleur Tchibota of the External Communications Unit.

Manal Mounir Hendy

Associate

External Communications