Chad has announced its accession to the Agreement Establishing the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), becoming the 38th African country to join the continental trade finance institution as a participating state.
According to the official accession document deposited by the Chadian authorities with Afreximbank, Ngarlenan Docdjengar, Minister of Finance and Budget of the country, signed the accession document on 5 October in the Chadian capital city of Ndajamena. Chad undertook to take all the necessary steps for the formal ratification of the Agreement.
Welcoming the decision by Chad to join the Bank, Dr. Benedict Oramah, President of the Afreximbank, said that by signing the instrument of accession, the Chad had taken a bold step to pave way for Chadian entities, including the private sector, to enjoy full access to the range of services, programmes and facilities offered by the Bank.
He urged Chad to move quickly to conclude the ratification process and to subscribe to shares in Afreximbank in order to allow the Bank to start providing much needed financing support to Chadian entities.
Under the terms of the 1993 Abidjan Agreement on the establishment of the Bank, countries that were not able to sign the Agreement before it entered into force, are required to first issue an instrument of acceptance and accession and then to ratify the Establishment Agreement so as to fully activate their membership of the Bank.
Currently, the participating members of the Bank include Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape-Verde, Cote D’ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, and Mauritius.
Others are Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic Of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra-Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
