Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board, dear colleagues,
Mr. General Manager of FAGACE,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me first of all to extend a warm welcome to you all to the Republic of Benin.
Dear colleagues, it is a renewed pleasure for me to preside over the 42nd ordinary session of our Board today.
I see that you have once again sacrificed yourselves to tradition, by honouring with your august presence this session which will have to deliberate on important issues for the development of our Institution, and I thank you for this.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you know, in a remarkable show of solidarity, our member states have, over the last few years, mapped out new avenues for strengthening our institution’s capacity to act.
These include the adoption in 2010 of a short-term recovery plan to restore the quality of the Fund’s signature, and the adoption of the 2012-2015 four-year plan to relaunch its operational activities.
In addition, our governing bodies approved decisions to increase the Fund’s capital, which was gradually raised from 100 billion to 200 billion, and then to 350 billion in 2014;
Thanks to these salutary measures, the gradual relaunch of operational activities is now effective. Despite the cyclical difficulties it has experienced, the Fund has achieved good results over the past four (4) years, mainly thanks to the reorganization of its portfolio.
The Fund’s recovery and business development tools are a salutary measure that has undoubtedly strengthened the institution’s good governance and efficiency. For the past two (2) years, the Audit Committee has ensured transparency and greater visibility of the Fund’s results. This is undoubtedly a strong signal to our partners.
To support this dynamic, the 2012-2015 four-year plan has served as a compass for our Institution’s activities.
In this context, at our previous sessions in 2014, the Board authorized the diversification of the Fund’s activities by validating the texts governing direct financing, as well as the steps taken to mobilize resources, in particular the FAGACE bond issue on the CEMAC market.
On the operational front, the strengthening of cooperative relations with other development institutions for joint project interventions, project monitoring, the pursuit of the debt recovery plan, portfolio clean-up and the diversification of the Fund’s activities have undoubtedly contributed to the results achieved.
In view of the challenges facing the Fund, notably that of strengthening the operationalization of its activities in order to better respond to the pressing demands of our States in terms of both guarantees and direct financing, a number of important items are on the agenda for this session.
Directors, Colleagues,
The examination of the items on the agenda of the present session, in particular the review of the financial statements, and the new interventions will have to be made in the light of the current context.
The financial situation of our Institution gives us an indication of the importance of the challenges to be met, and the weight of the measures that we will certainly have to take during our forthcoming sessions.
With this in mind, safeguarding the assets of our beloved institution and strengthening its means of intervention should enable it to better support the creation of integrative projects capable of better meeting the challenges of growth and employment.
For my part, I remain convinced that, as always, we will be able to demonstrate a high sense of responsibility and diligently analyze the dossiers submitted for our appraisal, in order to give fresh impetus to our Institution and enable it to remain operational and consolidate its influence.
I wish our work every success.
I would like to thank you all.
