The leadership of four of Cote d’Ivoire’s leading public enterprises has visited the Headquarters of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for the signing of financing agreements totaling 359 million Euros granted by the Bank to support Cote d’Ivoire’s goal to achieve full economic revival by 2020.
Participating in the signing ceremony were the heads of Societe des Transports Abidjanais (SOTRA), Compagnie Ivoirienne de Developpement des Textiles (CIDT), Port Autonome d’Abidjan, and Banque Nationale d’Investissements (BNI) who signed for facilities granted to their respective enterprises by Afreximbank.
They were represented by Hien Yacouba Sie, Managing Director of Port Autonome Abidjan; Fanny Ibrahima, Chairman of CIDT; Mamadou Coulibaly, Managing Director of CIDT; Camara Lancine, Chairman of SOTRA; Meite Bouake, Managing Director of SOTRA; Simon Doho, Deputy Managing Director of SOTRA; and N’Da Eugene Kassi, Managing Director of BNI.
Speaking at the ceremony, Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra said that the financing had been provided as part of the Bank’s Country Programme for Cote d’Ivoire under which the Board of Directors had set aside $550 million in 2013 to support and facilitate Cote d’Ivoire’s economic recovery after the extended political crisis that confronted it.
The financing facilities signed at the ceremony include a 250 million-Euro syndicated loan facility arranged for the Port Autonome d’Abidjan to assist it toward achieving its vision of turning the Abidjan port into an international hub in West Africa, and a 50 million-Euro facility granted to SOTRA to enable it strengthen its capacity with the acquisition of additional 500 buses, 12 water buses, and a new ticketing system as well as help it improve its depots and enhance fuel control.
Others are 30 million Euros granted by Afreximbank to BNI for onward lending to Ivorian small and medium-sized enterprises which may not meet the criteria for accessing financing directly from Afreximbank, and 29 million Euros granted to CIDT for the purchase of inputs and cotton grains for its agricultural campaign, enabling it to strengthen its rehabilitation and revival programme, added Mr. Ekra
According to President Ekra, the first facility under the Country Programme had been a $320 million-facility to the Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR) for the import of urgently needed crude following the end of the post-electoral crisis in the country. SIR had repaid that facility in full after only utilising it twice.
Also speaking, Eugene Allou-Allou, Ambassador of Cote d’Ivoire to Egypt, said that the large number of contracts being signed demonstrated Afreximbank’s deep commitment to the development and revival of the Ivorian economy, noting that the beneficiaries cut across the key sectors of the Ivorian economy.
Exchange of documents: (L-R) Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra, Fanny Ibrahima, Chairman of CIDT, and Mamadou Coulibaly, Managing Director of CIDT
Exchange of documents: (L-R) Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra and N’Da Eugene Kassi, Managing Director of BNI.
Exchange of documents: (L-R) Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra, Meite Bouake, Managing Director of SOTRA; Camara Lancine, Chairman of SOTRA, Simon Doho, Deputy Managing Director of SOTRA, and Eugene Allou-Allou, Ambassador of Cote d’Ivoire to Egypt
Exchange of documents: (L-R) Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra and Hien Yacouba Sie, Managing Director of Port Autonome Abidjan
A cross section of the participants