The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is uniquely placed to assist African countries to achieve their trade development objectives because of its grasp of the true realities of the countries, Aubin Minaku, President of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said today in Kinshasa.
Receiving Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah, who led a delegation of the Bank to pay him a courtesy call, Mr. Minaku said that as an African institution, Afreximbank understood the needs and challenges of the countries.
He said that since 2006, the DRC had been seeking for financial alternatives to enable it address trade development challenges, and argued that Afreximbank was a natural partner in that regard.
He promised to do everything to ensure that the process of DRC’s ratification of the Afreximbank Agreement moved quickly through the National Assembly once it was received by the lawmakers.
Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah (right) in handshake with Deogratias Mutombo Mwana Nyembo, Governor of the Central Bank of the DRC, after their meeting.
Earlier, Dr. Oramah had told the Assembly President that Afreximbank would be able to provide considerable trade finance support to help the DRC boost its economy but that the Bank could not yet deploy the resources in full due to the fact that the DRC had not fully ratified the Bank’s Establishment Agreement, even though it had signed the document.
Completing the ratification of the Agreement would allow Afreximbank to fully engage with DRC entities and to fully support trade and trade finance activities in the country, he said.
Dr. Oramah expressed satisfaction that the DRC had begun to make good economic progress. According to him, when the DRC makes progress, it translates into progress for Africa as a whole due to the unique nature of the country.
Also today, the Afreximbank President met with Deogratias Mutombo Mwana Nyembo, Governor of the Central Bank of the DRC. The two discussed areas of possible collaboration between their respective institutions.