The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda has signed a hosting agreement and a memorandum of understanding with African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to host their East African regional office starting next month.
The announcement was made after a meeting between leading officials of the bank and President Yoweri Museveni at State House Entebbe on Friday. The delegation was led by the chairman Intra-African Trade Fair advisory council and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, together with AFREXIM president Prof. Okey Oramah.
“I believe with the presence of Afreximbank in Kampala is signal to others that Uganda is open for international business,” Museveni tweeted after the meeting.
Museveni said the bank will support export and import trade through loan facilities to Ugandan businesses, offer credit facilities to the government to enable financing of government projects, improve trade literacy through the trade centre which will also be situated in Kampala.
“The bank will also lead to job creation and expansion of cash liquidity which will be consequential in changing the population structure of Uganda from pre-capitalism,” he said.
I am happy to inform you that we have signed a hosting agreement and a memorandum of understanding with @afreximbank. By the agreement, Uganda will host the AFREXIM East African regional office starting next month. pic.twitter.com/GQSIujGsv2
— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) September 20, 2019
Prof. Oramah earlier met the Governor Bank of Uganda Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile who he briefed that, with the impending opening of the Bank’s East Africa Regional Office in Kampala, Afreximbank planned to expand its exposure in the East Africa region.
In addition to its current transactions, the Bank was already discussing a number of new transactions in Uganda and the 11 other countries under the purview of the Branch Office.
In order to create wider awareness about the Bank and the services it could provide to Ugandan and East African businesses, Afreximbank planned to hold a roadshow in Kampala on September 22 and had invited Ugandan banks and businesses to attend and participate.
He also briefed the Governor about MANSA, the due diligence repository platform launched by Afreximbank in 2018, and the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, launched in July, and requested for support and collaboration from the Bank of Uganda in the implementation of those initiatives.
Prof. Oramah, in addition, thanked the Bank of Uganda for participating in the Afreximbank Central Bank Deposit Programme, explaining that that programme had become an important part of the Bank’s liability and had had the effect of bringing down its cost of funds and of making it possible to transfer the savings to African businesses.
Responding, Gov. Tumusiime-Mutebile thanked Afreximbank for deciding to open a regional office in Uganda and pledged the support of the Bank of Uganda for the activities of the Bank and the branch office.
President Oramah is in Kampala for a series of activities by Afreximbank, including a three-day retreat for the mid-term review of its Fifth Strategic Plan, which began Thursday; the quarterly meeting of the Bank’s Board of Directors, which took place on 18 September; and the signing of the hosting agreement for the East Africa Regional Office with the Government of Uganda, which took place Friday.
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SOURCE: PPU & AFREXIMBANK MEDIA
