Mr Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, UN-ASG / DG, African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group; and Mr. Denys Denya Executive VP, Finance, Administration and Banking Services, AFREXIMBank exchanging copies of the MOU last Thursday during the InterAfrican Trade Fair at the Durban International Conference Centre
JOINT AU /AFREXIMBANK / ARC Press Release
Afreximbank signs MOU with African Risk Capacity Group to enhance resilience and disaster risk financing initiatives.
Durban, 18 November, 2021. The African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK) and African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly enhance resilience and disaster risk financing initiatives that also impacts the trade and supply chain across the continent.
The purpose of this MOU is to enable joint member states to enhance disaster response and resiliency initiatives using available banking and insurance products suited for localized challenges.
The MoU’s primary intervention is to provide Food Emergency Contingent Financing Facility (FECONTRAF) to joint member countries that participate in African Risk Capacity’s sovereign/macro disaster risk transfer programme, national capacity building and food security policy development.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, commented:
“This new partnership with the African Risk Capacity Group will ensure we support member countries to be disaster aware, prepared and solutions oriented. In collaboration with the ARC, we aim to improve their capacities to better plan and respond to natural and man-made disasters that may hamper trade facilitation across the continent and make available the needed support to combat disasters when they strike.”
United Nations Assistant Secretary General (ASG) and Group Director General of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group, Mr Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, said:
“The alignment of purpose between our two institutions for a food-secure and climate-resilient Africa is fundamental to this partnership. Through providing holisitic solutions we will lessen the negative impacts of natural disasters on lives and livelihoods. Therefore, our collaboration will help strengthen countries’ response systems by promoting the availability, accessibility, and affordability of critical resources for anticipatory climate action.”
ENDS
MEDIA CONTACTS:
- Chinedu Moghalu | Communications & Advocacy Advisor | African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group | E-mail: chinedu.moghalu@arc.int
- Amadou Labba Sall |Media Relations Manager|Afreximbank| Email: asall@afreximbank.com
- Molalet Tsedeke| Media Coordinator | Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission | E-mail: MolaletT@africa-union.org
About ARC Group:
African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group consists of ARC Agency and ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd). ARC Agency was established in 2012 as a Specialized Agency of the African Union to help the Member States improve their capacities to better plan, prepare and respond to weather-related disasters. ARC Ltd is a mutual insurance facility providing risk transfer services to the Member States through risk pooling and access to reinsurance markets. ARC was established on the principle that investing in preparedness and early warning through an innovative financing approach is highly cost-effective and can save upward of four dollars for every dollar invested ex-ante.
With the support of the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, France, the European Union, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the United States, ARC assists the AU Member States in reducing the risk of loss and damage caused by extreme weather events affecting Africa’s populations by providing, through sovereign disaster risk insurance, targeted responses to natural disasters in a more timely, cost-effective, objective and transparent manner. ARC is now using its expertise to help tackle some of the other most significant threats faced by the continent, including floods and outbreaks & epidemics.
Since 2014, 62 policies have been signed by the Member States for cumulative insurance coverage of US$719 million for the protection of 72 million vulnerable populations in participating countries.
For more information, please visit: www.africanriskcapacity.org/
Please follow us on social media:
Twitter: @ARCapacity
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/african-risk-capacity/
About Afreximbank
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. Afreximbank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. The Bank has a rich history of intervening in support of African countries in times of crisis. Through the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) launched in April 2020, Afreximbank has disbursed more than US$6.5 billion in 2020 to help member countries manage the adverse impact of financial, economic, and health shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has completed the development of a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Afreximbank is working with the AU and the AfCFTA Secretariat to develop an Adjustment Facility to support countries in effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of 2020, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees stood at US$21.5 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$3.4 billion. Afreximbank disbursed more than US$42 billion between 2016 and 2020. The Bank has ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A-), Moody’s (Baa1) and Fitch (BBB-). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com.