At the third Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023), Vista Group secured a $275 million loan from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The funds will help Vista Group acquire 61.4% of Oragroup, the Lomé-based lender.

The funds will be provided in two installments. The first, €140 million, will go to Ora SPV, a special fund set up by Vista Group to buy the stake. The second installment, €113 million, obtained by ADI SVP/Vista Bank, will be deployed in Burkina Faso.

Before this package, Vista had secured funds from the West African Development Bank (BOAD) in March 2023, also for the stake acquisition.

Afreximbank will support Vista Group’s expansion strategy, to establish a presence in 25 African countries. Afreximbank will also advise Vista on its intra-African trade financing operations.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Lomé is hosting a workshop on anti-laundering and terrorism financing in the ECOWAS, Sao Tomé, and Comoros. Organized by the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in Africa (GIABA), the workshop began on November 20. It ends on November 24.

The meeting has gathered representatives of financial intelligence units, criminal investigation and prosecution authorities, judicial authorities, and other specialized prosecution agencies from GIABA member countries. They are working on different laundering and terrorism financing methods.

Muazu Umaru, Director of Research at GIABA, said: "None of the member countries has been able to develop an effective investigation strategy.” The Lomé meeting should yield recommendations for tackling shortcomings of national mechanisms focused on fighting laundering and terrorism financing.

The Lomé meeting also aims to revitalize interactions between operational authorities on warning signals and content indicators.

GIABA is an institution that fights and monitors money laundering and terrorism financing in the ECOWAS region.

Esaïe Edoh

Togo seeks a firm to take on the Aléhéridè-Kpaza-Tchamberi road project. The Ministry of Public Works just launched an international tender in this framework.

According to the tender notice published in the national daily, the hired firm will conduct right-of-way clearance, earthworks, pavement laying, and surfacing, as well as set up public lighting. The deadline for bid submission is January 23, 2024.

This 30 km-long section, which leaves the Nationale 1, will have a 7.4 m wide carriageway. Related works include the construction of 5 boreholes, 5 three-classroom school buildings, 30 covered market sheds, and 10 latrine blocks.

In June 2022, the Board of Directors of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) approved a CFA28 billion funding for the Aléhéridè-Kpaza-Tchamberi road project. It is set to begin next April and be completed 24 months later.

The initiative, according to the authorities, "will contribute to opening up the zone and facilitating economic, social, and cultural exchanges at national and sub-regional levels."

Esaïe Edoh

Togo will host Artificial Intelligence Week (AIS) in March 2024. Announced on November 19 in Lomé,  the event will be organized by CONIIA-Togo, the Togolese branch of the Conseil International pour l'Intelligence Artificielle, and Human-AI, a structure specialized in the development of new technologies

Scheduled from March 19-24, 2024, the SIA will gather Togo’s AI stakeholders. They will take stock of the current state of AI and explore its opportunities.

The event will focus on raising awareness of advances in artificial intelligence among the general public, students, decision-makers, and institutions.

According to Jérôme Ribier, co-organizer of the event, SIA 2024 will be a place for sharing through interactive workshops, informative conferences, and practical demonstration sessions.

The upcoming meeting should get Togo better prepared for AI, according to organizers. The country currently ranks 23rd in Africa and 145th worldwide in the Oxford Insights 2023 ranking of countries best prepared for AI adoption.

Esaïe Edoh 

In Togo, the Sokodé bypass project has reached a new milestone and should start soon. The government sealed a deal to this end last week, with the Japanese Cooperation Agency (JICA). The deal, for a CFA16 billion grant, was signed on November 17, by Togo’s Minister of Public Works, Zouréhatou Kassah-Traoré.

Commenting on the funding, the Japanese ambassador to Togo, Katsuya Ikkatai, said it is “the highest amount ever provided in terms of support, as part of bilateral cooperation.” 

Under the bypass project, a 12km-long and 11m-wide two-way road will be built. It will be paired with a water drainage system. 

This project, which is part of the larger National Road N°17, will improve traffic downtown. 

The bypass should also help enhance trade with hinterland countries and overall foster regional economic development.

Construction works should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2024. The site is located 340 km north of Lomé, the capital.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Public-private partnerships and States’ contribution to these partnerships are essential for Africa’s development. Togolese President, Faure Gnassingbé, underscored the importance of this partnership last Wednesday, at the opening of the African International Summit (AFIS). 

"Development is mainly driven by private sector financing, the dynamism of fintech, dynamic agricultural and industrial sectors, reducing internet access costs, a young population, rapid growth, and increasing urbanization," Gnassingbé said.

The private sector thus contributes to lower inflation and higher growth. On this basis, the leader called on private players to fully play their part in financing development policies in Africa.

Commenting on the State’s role in the process, President Gnassingbe said it should “reassure the private sector while enhancing investment opportunities”. "My country has moreover always been resolutely committed to this path, our ambition being to have half of our Roadmap 2025 financed by private investment,"  he added.

The African Finance Summit (AFIS) was recently held in Lomé, Togo, on November 15 and 16. 

Esaïe Edoh 

Securitization is an alternative for financing African economies. Sani Yaya, the Togolese minister of finance, expressed this view last Thursday, on the final day of the African Financial Industry Summit (AFIS) in Lomé.

Yaya stressed that securitization is indispensable, for the development of businesses, financial institutions, and government projects.

He added that Togo is a pioneer when it comes to securitization, in West Africa. In 2016, the country carried out its first securitization operation, falling into the steps of Ivory Coast and Senegal. Lomé raised CFA150 billion through the operation.

Togo’s latest operation was carried out by Orabank-Togo. The lender completed a receivables securitization of CFA25 billion, a first for one of the bank’s countries.

Several eminent figures in the African financial sector attended the AFIS. These included Edoh Kossi Amenounve, Managing Director of the WAEMU stock exchange, the BRVM, Serge Ekué, President of the BOAD, and Sergio Pimenta, Vice President for Africa at the IFC (World Bank).

Securitization allows financial institutions, companies, and governments to raise capital by transforming their assets, such as mortgages, trade receivables, or real estate assets, into securities tradable on financial markets.

 Esaïe Edoh

The Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACP) and the European Union (EU) signed a new cooperation agreement last Thursday, Nov. 16. Inked in Apia, Samoa, the new deal defines the new global legal framework for relations between the two parties for the next 20 years. It substitutes the Cotonou agreements signed in 2000. 

Finalement , c est fait. Après des mois de négociations, l’accord entre les Etats d Afrique des Caraïbes et des pacifiques et l Union Européenne appelé accord de Samoa qui succède à l’accord de cotonou est signé. Merci à tous et à toutes. Le processus a été laborieux et par… pic.twitter.com/l5Enb7Cteg

— Robert Dussey (@rdussey) November 16, 2023

Commenting on the milestone, Robert Dussey, Togo’s Minister of foreign affairs and Chief negotiator of the ACP countries said "After months of negotiations, the agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union, known as the Samoa Agreement, which succeeds the Cotonou Agreement, has been signed."  "The process has been laborious and, at times, difficult, but what is essential and what matters in the end is that the agreement is reached. (...) Now, let's work for its ratification according to each of our legislations," Dussey added.

Recall that the OACP negotiating mandate was handed over to Togo at the end of May 2018. The new agreement covers 79 countries (47 African countries, 16 Caribbean countries, and 15 Pacific countries, as well as the Republic of Maldives) and the European Union. In all, their population totals 1.5 billion people.

A paradigm shift

The agreement, which aims to strengthen the capacity of ACP and EU countries to address global challenges together, covers six priority areas in particular: democracy and human rights, sustainable economic growth and development, climate change, human and social development, peace and security, and migration and mobility.

In the context of these negotiations, Robert Dussey recalled Africa's repeated calls for a "paradigm shift" in Europe-Africa relations, amidst major geopolitical changes in Africa and worldwide. "Africa is going through a deep transformation in a world that is itself changing, and Europe must take this new situation into account in its new relationship with Africa," Dussey declared.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi