The Republic of Turkey participated in the African Development Bank Group's Board Meetings for the first time last week in Tunis, following the country's admission as the 26th State Participant in the African Development Fund and the 78th Member State of the African Development Bank.
"Our Constituency is delighted to welcome Turkey as an official member of AfDB and to our Constituency," said Executive Director Hau Sing Tse, who represents Canada, China, Korea, Kuwait and Turkey.
"Our Chair represented Turkey for the first time at the Board today [December 3, 2013]. I shared with the Board our excitement about Turkey's membership at this juncture of Turkey's engagement with Africa through its 'Opening to Africa' policy.
"It is especially timely for Turkey to join AfDB as Turkey enters into a new phase of deepening its engagement with Africa. Turkey values AfDB's unique and pivotal role in helping to shape Africa's transformation, and, as a new member, looks forward to making a useful contribution to support AfDB in this regard," Tse added.
A Declaration issued by the Bank Group's President, Donald Kaberuka, on October 29, 2013 formalized Turkey's membership in the Bank Group.
Turkey's admission to the Bank Group followed the completion of the membership process after the approval of its membership application by the Bank Group's Board of Governors on May 14, 2008.
Membership of the Bank Group is subject to the completion of the membership process including signing of the Agreements establishing the Fund and Bank, deposit of the instruments of acceptance/approval of the Fund and the Bank agreements, and the payment of the initial subscriptions to the Fund and capital stock of the Bank.
The agreement establishing the AfDB was signed by 23 newly independent African countries on August 4, 1963 in Khartoum, Sudan. It became effective on September 10, 1964, when 20 member countries subscribed to 65 per cent of the Bank's capital stock which then stood at US $250 million. The inaugural meeting of the Board of Governors (mostly Finance Ministers) was held from November 4-7, 1964 in Lagos, Nigeria. The Bank Group's key mandate is to contribute to the sustainable economic development and social progress of its regional members, individually and jointly.
The African Development Fund (ADF), the concessionary window of the Bank Group was established on November 29, 1972, by the African Development Bank and 13 non-regional countries (State Participants). At the end of December 2012, cumulative ADF resources amounted to UA 22.3 billion (US $34.2 billion)
The AfDB Group's authorized capital stood at UA 66.98 billion (US $103 billion) at the end of 2012. The capital subscription by the regional and non-regional countries is based on a 60/40 per cent ratio.
The Bank's has approved 3,769 operations (loans and grants) totaling US $96 billion (UA 63.66 billion) from 1967 when it began operations to year-end 2012.
AfDB Group maintains AAA ratings from the main international rating agencies demonstrating its strong financial position.
