South Sudan has delivered the instrument of its ratification of the Agreement Establishing the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to the Cairo-based continental multilateral trade finance institution established to promote and finance African trade.
Mou Ambrose Thiik, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of South Sudan, who led a delegation to the Bank’s Headquarters on 19 September to deliver the document, said that all the ratification formalities had been completed and that the document had been ratified by the national parliament and signed by the President of the country.
Receiving the document, Dr. George Elombi, Executive Vice President in charge of Governance, Legal and Corporate Services at Afreximbank, reaffirmed the commitment of the Bank to supporting the government of South Sudan in its effort to deliver development to the country through trade.
Stephen Dhieu Dau, the Minister of Finance and Planning, had he signed the instrument of accession on 28 March, thereby committing South Sudan to take all necessary steps for the ratification. That signature followed a move initiated by South Sudan toward its membership of the Bank when a delegation led by Mr. Thiik met in Cairo with an Afreximbank team on the sidelines of the meeting of the Bank’s Board of Directors on 25 March.
Under its terms of the Agreement on the Establishment of the African Export-Import Bank, signed in Abidjan on 8 May 1993, countries that did not sign before it entered into force are required to first issue an instrument of acceptance and accession and then to formally ratify the Agreement in order to fully activate their membership of the Bank.
Current Afreximbank participating states include Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, and Lesotho. Others are Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Participating states become shareholders when they acquire shares in the Bank. Afreximbank shareholders are a mix of public and private entities divided into four classes and consist of African governments, central banks, regional and sub-regional institutions, private investors and financial institutions, as well as non-African financial institutions, export credit agencies and private investors.
Class “A” shareholders are African states, African central banks and African public institutions, including the African Development Bank, while Class “B” is made up of African financial institutions and African private investors.
Class “C” shares are held by non-African investors, mostly international banks and export credit agencies, including Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, Citibank, China Exim Bank and Exim India. Class “D” shares, a tier approved in December 2012, are fully paid par value shares that can be held by any investor.
Dr. Elombi was joined from Afreximbank by Kanayo Awani, Managing Director, Intra-African Trade Initiative; Rene Awambeng, Director, Client Relations; Obi Emekekwue, Head of Communications; Serge Belinga, Senior Manager, Credit Assurance; and Gerald Nsomba of the Intra-African Trade Initiative.
The Afreximbank and South Sudanese delegations in group photo following the meeting in Cairo.