On Wednesday, October 31, 2018, at COGEBANQUE headquarters in Kigali, Ms. Minafou COULIBALY-KONE, Managing Director of the African Guarantee and Economic Cooperation Fund (FAGACE), and Mr. Cherno GAYE, Managing Director of Compagnie Générale de Banque (COGEBANQUE), signed a guarantee agreement for APEX BIOTECH in the pharmaceutical industry, with the aim of providing Rwanda with a state-of-the-art production plant for essential medicines, in line with WHO pharmaceutical best practices and recommendations.
The project comes at a time when, according to the Office Rwandais de Développement (RDB), the country imports over 98% of its medicines and medical supplies. In other East and Central African countries, according to the Regional Pharmaceutical Industry Action Plan, between 75% and 100% of essential medicines are imported from Asia or Europe.
The project is of particular interest to the Fund, as it relates to health and aims to improve the availability of and access to medicines for the Rwandan population. In so doing, it will contribute to the fight against the importation and consumption of counterfeit medicines in Rwanda.
Secondly, in economic and social terms, the construction and operation of the plant will also generate a whole new economic dynamic, impacting several sectors of activity and creating direct and indirect jobs. This will generate significant added value for both the Rwandan economy and the entire sub-region.
The signing of this agreement between FAGACE and COGEBANQUE marks the two institutions’ commitment to developing new synergies in order to build a more global partnership capable of boosting private sector financing in the country.
Within this framework, the Fund’s Representative Office in Rwanda remains operational to better respond to the specific expectations of the market and thus reinforce the operational efficiency of the Institution in the country.
It should be recalled that the Fonds Africain de Garantie et de Coopération Economique (FAGACE), a pioneer in the field of guarantees in Africa, aims to contribute to the economic and social development of its fourteen (14) member states through the guarantee of productive, short- and medium-term loans for the benefit of the economies of its member states.
To this end, since 2017, FAGACE has embarked on a new dynamic reflected in a refocusing of its product offering around guarantees for SMEs with product distribution exclusively through banks.
