The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and USAID's Power Africa initiative have today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will finance power projects in 22 African countries.
The memorandum was signed at African Development Bank's inaugural Africa Investment Forum, where emphasis on investment is at the core of tens of transactions anticipated to take place.
At the signing, the Trade and Development Bank's President and Chief Executive, Mr. Admassu Tadesse, said, "TDB is very pleased to deepen its existing partnership with USAID in further support of the Power Africa Initiative, which resonates strongly with TDB's strategy and mandate. We are proud to count USAID among our growing number of cooperating trade and development finance partners in the US."
As a new entrant to the program this collaboration makes TDB the 18th development partner of the Power Africa initiative. This formalises an already existing relationship between Power Africa and TBD, which has been working together to finance the power sector, and will now further strengthen the commitment to powering Africa through local institutions.
The Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of USAID's Africa Bureau, Mr. Ramsey Day, said, "we are excited to welcome TDB as our 18th development partner. We applaud the Bank's commitment to increase its exposure in the energy sector from its current 8% to 20% of its portfolio, the equivalent of bringing $400 million new dollars towards power sector financing".
At the plenary session, some of the key take away messages exemplified by this MoU signing were to scale up, speed up, and synergise the opportunities for investment at the Africa Investment Forum.
Media Contacts
Anne-Marie Iskandar, Senior Communications Officer, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs, Trade and Development Bank: Anne-Marie.Iskandar@tdbgroup.org
Chawki Chahed, Chief Communication Officer, African Development Bank: c.chahed@afdb.org
About TDB
Established in 1985, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is a multilateral, treaty-based development financial institution, with assets of over US$ 5 billion. By providing different types of financing, TDB fosters trade, regional economic integration and sustainable development, prioritizing projects with cross-border impact. www.tdbgroup.org
About Power Africa
Power Africa is a U.S. government-led initiative, coordinated by USAID, to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. Power Africa has more than 160 private and public sector partners, 12 U.S. government agency partners, and 18 development partners who to date have helped bring over 9,500 MW and more than 12.5 million connections to financial close. https://www.usaid.gov/powerafrica
