The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and UK Export Finance (UKEF), the United Kingdom’s export credit agency, have signed a memorandum of understanding on co-financing projects across Africa. Abdul Kamara, Officer in Charge and Vice President of the African Development Bank Group, and Tim Reid, Chief Executive of UKEF, signed the agreement on 21 October in Conakry, Guinea, on the sidelines of the fifth UK–West and Central Francophone Africa Trade and Investment Forum (WCAF V). AfDB describes it as the first framework agreement between the two institutions.

The memorandum provides a framework for the two institutions to identify, assess and develop co-financing opportunities for sovereign and non-sovereign operations in the Bank’s regional member countries, drawing on each institution’s financial instruments. AfDB says the partnership combines development finance with export credit to crowd in additional capital. The priority areas are energy, infrastructure, water and sanitation, health, digital infrastructure, critical minerals and supply chain resilience, alongside agriculture and trade finance.

“Africa’s financing needs call for partnerships that bring additional capital to the continent at scale. This agreement with UK Export Finance gives our cooperation a structured framework and opens new opportunities to finance the infrastructure and investments that will drive Africa’s growth,” said Abdul Kamara, OIC Vice President of the African Development Bank Group.

Reid said: “This agreement deepens the relationship between UK Export Finance and the African Development Bank Group. By combining our financial instruments and expertise, we can unlock greater co-financing for the infrastructure, energy and trade priorities that matter most to Africa’s growth. UKEF is committed to supporting that ambition, and this partnership will help us do so at greater scale”.

AfDB says the partnership supports the Bank Group’s efforts to mobilise capital at scale, in line with its Four Cardinal Points priorities, and reflects its long-standing relationship with the United Kingdom, which joined the African Development Fund in 1973 and became a member of the African Development Bank in 1983.