Tunis, Tunisia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Africa Finance Corporation (“AFC”) welcomed Tunisia as its 34e Member state. Tunisia’s membership brings the total number of AFC member states in North Africa to three, with Morocco and Egypt joining in 2021, deepening the infrastructure provider’s engagement with a gateway vital to Africa. Tunisia’s strategic geographical position makes it an important transit route for natural gas exports from Africa to Europe.
AFC has been investing in Tunisia for some time to enable the country to develop its key economic sectors and support the creation of highly skilled jobs. In 2017, AFC invested $37 million in the development of the Halk El Menzel offshore oil concession block in northern Tunisia. The project has been particularly critical in providing the energy needed for transport, installation, start-up and commissioning, drilling of the first well, including the acquisition of critical production facilities, units buoys for storage and offloading, repair, upgrade of the existing buoy, supply of surface facilities and construction of a wellhead platform. More recently, AFC signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2020 with the Tunisia Africa Business Council aimed primarily at opening up AFC financing to Tunisian companies to enable the development of basic infrastructure as a pillar of the economic growth in Tunisia and the rest of Africa.
Commenting on Tunisia’s membership, AFC President and CEO Samaila Zubairu said, “I am delighted to welcome the Republic of Tunisia as a new member of AFC. As AFC celebrates 15 years of operation, we are committed to expanding our impact as a reliable and resilient bridge to a prosperous African future by providing instrumental infrastructure that increases productivity and drives economic growth and sustainable development. . We look forward to helping Tunisia unlock its next phase of growth and job creation.”
Minister of Economy and Planning, Hon. Samir Saied also commented: “Current government priorities are political stability, economic recovery and diversification, and sustainable growth. Significant progress in policy reforms has been made by the government to encourage investment in the country, as we consider private sector financing and support to be essential to achieve this goal. AFC’s track record bodes well for us as we see AFC as a partner that would work with us to deliver bankable infrastructure projects in sectors with high growth potential and high development impact.”
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About AFC
AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for private sector-led infrastructure investment across Africa. It is the second highest rated multilateral financial institution in Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist sector expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development and venture capital to meet Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive a sustainable economic growth. AFC invests in high-quality infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the basic infrastructure sectors of energy, natural resources, heavy industry, transportation and telecommunications. To date, the Company has invested US$10 billion in projects in 35 countries in Africa. www.africafc.org
