The Kingdom of Lesotho on Monday, May 19 in Kigali, signed up to the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) becoming the 57th state to join the group, established in 2010 to assist African countries in commercial creditor litigation and related issues.

The agreement was signed on the margins of a High-Level Meeting of the Governing Council of ALSF on the theme: "Addressing Capacity Gaps in Contract negotiations: Four Years of the African Legal Support Facility." Lesotho's Finance Minister, Leketekete Ketso, signed the agreement for his country while ALSF Director, Stephen Karangizi, signed for the organisation.

Ketso told the meeting that his country was currently revising many mining and minerals policies put in place in the 1970 that would benefit immensely from the expertise of the ALSF.

The government was also negotiating a number of complicated PPP contracts and requires pieces of good legislation to implement policy, he said.

The ALSF was established in 2010 at the behest of African Finance Ministers to cope with excessive creditor litigations (vulture funds) and to assist African countries in negotiating complex commercial contracts.

The Facility assists African states on dozens of projects related to extractive industry contracts, debt negotiations and capacity building.

Membership in the ALSF is open to all sovereign nations and international organizations.

AfDB hosts the ALSF and the high-level meeting took place as part of the Bank's Annual Meetings program.