AfDB, Cabo Verde, Portugal sign Lusophone Compact MoU

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The&NewLine;African Development Bank&comma; AfDB&comma; &nbsp&semi;Africa’s&NewLine;premier development finance institution &nbsp&semi;and the governments of Cabo Verde and Portugal&NewLine;have signed a country specific memorandum of understanding for the&NewLine;implementation of the Lusophone Compact&comma; which aims to accelerate private&NewLine;sector development in Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa&period;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;The signing took place on Sal Island on 1 July&comma; between Olavo Correia&comma; Vice&NewLine;Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Cabo Verde&comma; Helena de Paiva&comma; Portugal’s&NewLine;Ambassador to Cabo Verde and Moono Mupotola&comma; the Bank’s Director for Regional&NewLine;Integration&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">&nbsp&semi;It was witnessed by over 200 Cabo Verdean and international investors and lenders&period;<br> <br> In a release by Apo Group on July 9&comma; Correia described the occasion as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;an important day for Cabo Verde&comma;” noting that it demonstrated the country’s commitment to press forward with private sector growth&comma; which is key for our country&period;<br> <br> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are confident that the Compact will assist us in diversifying and strengthening Cabo Verde’s economy in the coming years&comma;” Correia added&period;<br> <br> The Lusophone Compact is a financing platform&comma; involving the African Development Bank&comma; Portugal&comma; and the six Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa &lpar;PALOPs&rpar;&colon; Angola&comma; Cabo Verde&comma; Equatorial Guinea&comma; Guinea-Bissau&comma; Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe&period; It provides risk mitigation&comma; investment products and technical assistance to accelerate private sector development in Lusophone African countries&period;<br> <br> Following the signing of the general Lusophone Compact at the Africa Investment Forum in November 2018&comma; the Bank and Portugal are signing country specific agreements with each PALOP&comma; focusing on the needs of each country&period; Mozambique’s was signed in March 2019&comma; and an agreement with Angola will be signed on 10 July&period;<br> <br> According to Moono&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the Compact will help address Cabo Verde’s infrastructure bottlenecks that limit private sector development and diversification&period; That will transform sectors such as agriculture transformation&comma; the blue economy and small industry to support inclusive growth and formal job creation for the youth and women of Cabo Verde&period;”<br> <br> The Portuguese Government allocated Euro 400m in guarantees and other risk sharing mechanisms in the 2019 national budget to support the implementation of the Compact&comma; de Paiva said&period;<br> <br> Projects eligible under the Compact are expected to&nbsp&semi;align with the Bank’s&nbsp&semi;development priorities&comma; relevant country strategy papers and national development plans and involve the host country and at least two other Compact signatories&period; Focus will primary be on renewable energies&comma; agribusiness and agricultural value chains&comma; water and sanitation&comma; infrastructures&comma; tourism&comma; financing and ICT&period;<br> <br> The Cabo Verde MOU identifies a list of potential investment projects worth around &dollar;470 million&comma; which will be analysed by the Lusophone Compact country focal points from the Bank&comma; Cabo Verde and Portugal and prioritized for further support&period;<br> <br> The MOU also provides for technical assistance projects to accelerate private sector and PPP growth&period;&nbsp&semi; In Cabo Verde and elsewhere&comma; project preparation has been identified as one of the main impediments to making projects bankable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;