Hon. Moses Kuria, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Trade Calls on Afreximbank in Cairo-Egypt to pursue Facilities for Investments, Trade and Industrial renaissance under US$3 billion country programme

 
PRESS RELEASE 
Hon. Moses Kuria, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Trade
Calls on Afreximbank in Cairo-Egypt to pursue Facilities
for Investments, Trade and Industrial renaissance under 
US$3 billion country programme 
Left to right: Hon. Moses Kuria, Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Investment, Trade and Industry welcomed by Mr
Denys Denya, Executive Vice President for Finance, Administration and Banking Services, Afreximbank 
Cairo 15
th
 February 2023, - African Export Import Bank (“Afreximbank” or the “Bank”)
hosted a delegation led by the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Investment, Trade, and
Industry, the Hon. Moses Kuria at its Head Office in Cairo, Egypt. The delegation was
received by Mr Denys Denya, Executive Vice President for Finance, Administration
and Banking Services. 
The discussions covered various matters pertinent to investments, trade and industrial
development in Kenya and the East Africa region. Kenya is focussed on increasing 
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her share of manufacturing sector contribution to GDP from 7% to 20% in the next 10
years, share of exports to GDP to 30% from current levels of 10% and increasing FDI
from $500m annually to $10bn. 
Discussions focused on several key issues including, readiness of Kenya’s public
Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks, including the Dong’o Kundu Special
Economic Zone, the Naivasha Special Economic Zone, the Lamu Special Economic
Zone, the Nairobi Financial District Special Economic Zone, and the Kenanie Leather
Park. 
The Honourable Minister also highlighted Kenya’s agenda to roll-out County
Aggregation Centers and Industrial Parks across all 47 counties as a way of promoting
a value chain approach in facilitating the export led growth economic model and
establishing 100 export warehouses globally to provide global markets for Kenyan
products. Measures to alleviate the immediate challenges of food and fertilizer
sourcing were discussed as well the financing and the activities towards the practical
implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (“AfCFTA”). 
The Bank expressed its appreciation to the Government of Kenya for the timely
participation in the Bank’s USD$2.6 billion General Capital Increase and the meeting
also noted progress being made by the Government of Kenya in acceding to the
Agreement establishing its subsidiary, the Fund for Export Development (“FEDA”).
The minister undertook to speed up the completion of the accession and ratification
process of FEDA. 
The Honourable Minister emphasised the importance of Regional and intra-African
trade and requested the Bank to re-double its efforts in implementing its many
initiatives including the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System ( “PAPSS”)
which will resolve some of the foreign currency issues bedevilling intra-Africa trade.  
Given the macro-economic and geo-political landscape, with supply chains
experiencing unprecedented disruption, the Bank’s capacity to support Kenya in its
food security aspirations ranked high on the agenda, with extensive conversations on
the Bank’s import finance facilities to support the Kenya National Trading Corporation
(“KNTC”), to enable the company to guarantee sufficient importation of key
commodities including grains, edible oils, and fertilizers.  
The parties discussed at length what Afreximbank could do to assist the KNTC
develop relevant infrastructure including warehousing facilities in the counties, to
support aggregation, value-addition and packaging of goods for both local and export
markets. Afreximbank briefed the Kenyan delegation on its African Trade Exchange
(“ATEX”) project and the meeting agreed to facilitate the immediate onboarding of
KNTC and its various partners onto this pan-African commodities supply platform so
as to benefit from pooled procurement of key commodities and the attendant financing.
The Minister proposed a partnership between ATEX and the Kenya Multi-Commodities
Exchange “KOMEX”) programme and Kenyan fintech companies in the value chains
to accelerate market linkages between producers and international markets. 
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The Minister commended Afreximbank for implementing key interventions to support
intra-African trade under the AfCFTA such as the PAPSS, the AfCFTA Adjustment
Fund, Export Trading Companies, the Automotive Programme, the Textiles and
Apparel Initiative, the Afreximbank African Collaborative Transit Guarantee Scheme
and expressed interest in accessing support under these initiatives. He stated that the
AfCFTA offers opportunities for Afreximbank to support its member states and
businesses to transition to the new economic landscape and trading infrastructure.
This is particularly important to the Government of Kenya as it identifies the MSME
economy as a key economic pillar.   
The bank agreed to work with the Ministry to enhance the uptake of the AfCFTA led
textile market access facility, the automotive sector $1bn facility and the AfCFTA
$10bn Adjustment Fund when its launched.  
Denys Denya, Executive Vice President for Finance, Administration and Banking
Services, said: 
“It is a pleasure and a privilege to host Hon. Moses Kuria and his colleagues at 
Afreximbank’s Cairo offices. The pressing issues discussed today demand great effort
and courage from both parties, and I can assure the honourable minister that
Afreximbank has assigned relevant teams to deliver on what Professor Oramah
promised HE President Ruto. As a key member state of the Bank and a central pillar
of East African trade, I am pleased to re-emphasise Afreximbank’s commitment to
Kenya in implementing its national economic regeneration agenda.”  
The visit of Hon. Kuria provided the opportunity to review the progress of technical
teams from the Bank and counterparts from the ministry of Investments, Trade and
Industry, as well as representatives from across the ministries of finance and related
government departments and institutions. The visit focused on priority projects
supporting the GOK’s economic regeneration agenda in pursuit of sustainable and
inclusive growth.  
The meeting was a follow up to discussions held between the Kenyan President H.E.
Dr. William Samoei Ruto and Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, in
November 2022 when the latter paid a visit to State House Nairobi to discuss, among
other things, the Bank’s ongoing USD$3 billion country programme and its contribution
to the country’s national industrialization agenda.  
 
About Afreximbank 
- Ends - 
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution
mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. Afreximbank deploys
innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the
structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby 
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boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free
Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and
Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and
settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Afreximbank is working
with the AU and the AfCFTA Secretariat to develop an Adjustment Facility to support countries
in effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of 2021, the Bank’s total assets and
guarantees stood at about US$25 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$4 billion.
Afreximbank disbursed more than US$51 billion between 2016 and 2021. The Bank has
ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating
Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. 
For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com.
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Media Contact: Amadou Labba Sall: asall@afreximbank.com
 
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