Sunday, June 14, 2020 / 08:28 PM / By AfreximBank / Header Image Credit: DMarket Forces
Shareholders
of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have voted and re-appointed Prof.
Benedict Oramah as President of the Pan-African multilateral financial
institution for a second 5-year term.
The decision was announced today in Cairo
following Afreximbank's 27th Annual General Meeting of
Shareholders which was held by circulation of resolutions due to the COVID-19
pandemic situation.
In an acceptance statement released
shortly thereafter, President Oramah told Shareholders that the Bank's ultimate
goal under his second term of office is the realisation of Africa's strategic
ambition to create an integrated market.
"We want an Africa where the foundations
of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) are laid expeditiously
so that the 84,000 kilometres of borders that have divided us for ages can
begin to come down," said prof. Oramah who added that AfCFTA would "drive the
industrialisation of Africa, support the emergence of regional value chains,
turn Africa's creative and cultural assets into engines of growth, grow jobs
for the continent's youth, convey respect to Africans wherever they may be and
better prepare the continent to compete more effectively in the global
markets."
Prof. Oramah highlighted that between 2015
and 2019, Afreximbank disbursed more than US$30 billion in support of African
trade with over US$15 billion channeled towards the financing and promotion of
intra-African trade.
"We will aim to double intra-African trade
financing so that by the end of my term, it will constitute no less than 40% of
the Bank's total assets, with aggregate disbursements, on a revolving basis,
over the 5 years exceeding US$30 billion," he announced.
In office since 2015, Prof. Oramah's re-appointment
was one of the key decisions taken by shareholders during the Bank's 2020
General Meeting.
A resolution proposing the re-election of
Mr. Stefan-Luis Francois Nalletamby as a director representing Class "A" Shareholders and Mr. Kee Chong Li Kwong Wing as a director representing Class "B" Sharefolders was also approved by the meeting.
In addition, the 2019 audited accounts
were approved, as well as the proposal to raise an additional US$500 million in
equity within Afreximbank's current Strategic Plan dubbed "IMPACT 2021-Africa
transformed". The approval to raise additional equity was in recognition that
an amount of US$1 billion earlier authorized to be mobilized had almost been
fully raised.
"I make a commitment that with your support, the Bank will remain well capitalised throughout my term of office and beyond. We will continue our efforts to diversify sources of equity to include the markets while ensuring that the Bank's development focus remains unchanged," President Oramah assured the Bank's Shareholders.
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