Cairo, Egypt

A landmark Arab Africa Guarantee Fund (AAGF) took a step closer to realization when the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) submitted a final concept note for the establishment of the Fund to the 3^rd Board of Governors Meeting of the Arab Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) Program on 14^th March 2022 in Cairo for approval.

The establishment of AAGF shall provide a scalable structure that aims to mobilize financial resources and risk mitigation capacity to support trade and investment in Arab and African countries; and ensure that all-in pricing of transactions is optimized for the end beneficiaries through blended structures.

The proposed Umbrella Fund will comprise three sub-funds, including an Arab Africa Green Facility, an Arab Africa Food Security Facility, and an Arab Africa Health Facility, which may attract additional partners interested in the respective sectors.

In this respect, the AAGF Partners Network hopes to bring together AATB founding partners with other stakeholders, including National ECAs, PRI providers, Donors, MDBs, Regional Development Banks, NGOs, and new AATB members.

Oussama Kaissi, Chief Executive Officer of ICIEC, commented: “Credit and political risk insurance (CPRI) solutions can boost the volume of trade finance to meet the objectives of both ATTB and infrastructure investments. The needs of the Arab and the African countries are far more than the capabilities of the member institutions of AATB. It becomes imperative for AATB to seek innovative structures that can leverage the capabilities of the existing member institutions of the AATB and offer appropriate risk mitigation tools to mobilize financial resources from external partners. To fill this gap, ICIEC, in its capacity as the Leader of the Insurance Pillar of the AATB, proposes establishing AAGF.”