Afreximbank president visits DRC

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is interested in participating in the syndicated facility for the construction of the bridge between Brazzaville and Kinshasa to link the two Congos, Bank President Prof. Benedict Oramah announced recently.

Oramah, who was briefing President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), when he led an Afreximbank delegation on a state visit to the Congolese President, said the Bank’s other areas of interest in the country included the power and energy development project at the INGA 3 Dam, attracting foreign direct investment into the mining sector and attracting its Intra-African Trade Champions and foreign investors into the country for capacity building, partnership and financing.

He noted that the Bank had been providing ongoing support to the DRC, particularly in the areas of infrastructural development, such as roads and bridges, provision of a refinancing window to commercial banks through the Banque Centrale du Congo which allowed banks provide long term financing to support investments, and support for local content promotion for extractive industries to provide advisory services to develop local content policy and financing models. Oramah, who also briefed President Tshisekedi about the Bank’s products, services and facilities and expressed the Bank’s readiness to support the DRC’s development agenda, took the opportunity of the visit to commiserate with President Tshisekedi on the death of his father, Etienne Tshisekedi, a former Prime Minister of the DRC. Tshisekedi commended Prof. Oramah and Afreximbank for their invaluable support to the DRC’s economic expansion and expressed the country’s commitment to facilitating the execution of the Bank’s transactions.