Johannesburg, 12 November 2019 – Today, on the margins of the second Africa Investment Forum held in Johannesburg, South Africa, FinDev Canada and the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding, marking the start and development of a mutually beneficial and long-term strategic partnership geared at bolstering sustainable economic growth in Africa.
With this MOU, and within this objective, both parties committed to collaborating on knowledge-sharing, technical assistance and potential co-investment in Eastern and Southern Africa. Likewise, future activities will be planned in order to advance each party’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
Suzanne Gaboury, Chief Investment Officer of FinDev Canada, comments on the importance of financial collaboration, and its impact on furthering the progress of the SDGs. “Making commitments such as these are crucial to facilitating private capital access to developing countries. Working together and providing mutual financial support ensures that we establish investment infrastructure that is sustainable for years to come.”
“We are very pleased with the signing of this MOU with FinDev Canada, our first partnership with a Canadian institution” says Admassu Tadesse, TDB President and Chief Executive. “We value Canada’s commitment to the 2030 Agenda, and the multi-stakeholder partnership approach it promotes to realise it. This resonates with not only the way we do business, but with our very raison d’être. To date, half of TDB’s portfolio directly and indirectly contributes to SDGs. With FinDev Canada, we can look forward to together, further catalysing impact-driven global capital and efforts, into the region TDB serves.”
Mary Kamari, TDB Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations Executive adds that “at TDB we strive to develop strategic partnerships with institutions where both parties and the mandate they are fulfilling, can benefit from the synergies brought about by the relationship, both in terms of returns and impact. TDB and FinDev Canada both share a common focus on providing finance for development, namely via the private sector, with initiatives which can accelerate sustainable and inclusive economic growth. This makes today’s MOU is a win-win”.
About FinDev Canada
The Development Finance Institute Canada Inc., operating under the FinDev Canada brand, is a Canadian institution dedicated to providing financial services to the private sector in developing countries with the aim of combating poverty through economic growth by focusing on three main themes: economic development through job creation, women economic empowerment, and climate change mitigation. The Development Finance Institute Canada Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Export Development Canada (EDC).
www.findevcanada.ca/en/homepage
About TDB
Established in 1985, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank(TDB) is a multilateral, treaty-based, investment-grade development financial institution, with assets of USD 6 bn. The Bank’s mandate is to finance and foster trade, regional economic integration and sustainable development through trade finance, project and infrastructure finance, asset management and advisory services.
Media Contacts
Angela Rodriguez
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Anne-Marie Iskandar, Senior Communications Officer
Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations
Trade and Development Bank
Anne-Marie.Iskandar@tdbgroup.org