The 41st ordinary session of the Board of Directors of the Fonds Africain de Garantie et de Coopération Economique (FAGACE) was held on December 15, 2014 in Cotonou (Republic of Benin) under the chairmanship of Mr. Cyrille HATEGEKIMANA, Director representing the Republic of Rwanda, current Chairman.
With the exception of two (2) countries, all the Fund’s member states took part in this session. They were Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Rwanda and Togo.
At the opening of the ceremony, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, after welcoming the Directors, recalled in his speech that the meetings were being held in a global economic and financial context that remained difficult, despite the improvements in growth recorded, with disparities between the different regions and member states.
On the internal front, he underlined the progress made by the Fund, characterized by the effective resumption of operational activities, the diligence carried out to start up direct financing, and the good governance that has strengthened the institution’s efficiency.
For the current Chairman, in view of the positive results recorded, it is appropriate that the necessary directives and resources be given to the General Management to pursue the actions undertaken in the context of strengthening the Institution’s operational capacities, so as to enable it to better respond to the increasing number of requests from member states, both in terms of guarantees and direct financing.
Following this address, the Board examined the files submitted for its appraisal by General Management.
It approved five (05) requests for intervention:
- one (01) downstream in favour of the ASUSU project in Niger for an amount of 1,000,000,000 CFA francs
- three (3) in partial financing for :
- 800,000,000 F CFA for the construction of an R+8 commercial building by SUD BUILDING in Benin.
- G-POWER CEMENT’s 3.5 billion CFA francs cement plant construction project in Cameroon;
- 1,000,000,000 CFA francs for the construction of a headquarters building for TRANSIMEX in Cameroon;
- an additional FAGACE stake in Togo-based Société Africaine des Biocarburants et des Energies renouvelables (SABER)
With these new approvals, FAGACE’s interventions for the benefit of its member states amount to 303,139 million FCFA in downstream financing and 5,300 million FCFA in direct financing.
In addition, after review, the Board approved the Fund’s financial situation as at June 30, 2014 and adopted the program of activities and budget presented by General Management for the 2015 financial year.
At the close of its proceedings, the Board of Directors warmly thanked His Excellency Dr Boni YAYI, President of the Republic, Head of State, Head of Government, and all the Beninese people for the warm and fraternal welcome extended to it, and for all the facilities that enabled its meetings to be held under the best possible conditions.
Cotonou, December 15, 2014.
