Ghana, France Deepen Bilateral Cooperation

Ghana and France have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The MoU which was signed on the sidelines of President Nana Akufo Addo's visit to France and as part of the France-Ghana Investment Forum in Paris also saw the signing of two credit facilities.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mrs Sherley Ayorkor Botchwey signed for Ghana while France, was represented by Expertise France's Director, M. Jérémie Pellet and AFD's Director for Africa, Mrs Rima Le Coguic.

Cal Bank, a beneficiary of the credit facilities was represented by its Managing Director, Mr Frank Adu.

The MoU is related to the Adapt 'Action facility, whose objective is to enable Ghana to consolidate its climate governance, leading to the successful implementation of its Nationally Determined Contributions (GH-NDCs) through capacity-building activities, translate these GH-NDCs into sectoral public policies and action plans in the field of adaptation and design structured and transformational climate programmes and projects, with a focus on adaptation to climate change impacts.

A statement issued after the signing said: "Operational over a four-year period (2017 - 2021), the EUR 30 million facility from AFD is aimed at supporting 15 partner countries and regional organisations. This is in response to the desire clearly indicated by many developing countries to benefit from technical and financial support in the concrete implementation of their NDCs and the achievement of their climate objectives. The implementation of the capacity building component of this facility is delegated to Expertise France."

The first agreement with Cal Bank is a credit line facility of EUR 17 M (aroundUSD19M) which will allow the bank to provide green credit loans to finance small and medium enterprises in Ghana, for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

The second agreement is a grant agreement of EUR 1.4 M to the benefice of the clients of the bank who are eligible under the programme. These two agreements with Cal Bank form part of the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance (SUNREF) programme in Ghana.

SUNREF, which is AFD's green financing label worldwide, is a comprehensive progamme that comprises three pillars in Ghana: Credit lines financed by AFD, up to EUR 30 million with local banks, a technical assistance facility with support from the European Union Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund (EU-AITF) of EUR 2 million and an investment grant scheme also funded by the EU-AITF of EUR 2.4 million to provide additional incentives to green investments.

Cal Bank is the first bank in Ghana to participate in this programme which will take off in the coming months.

The outcome of the project is to increase the share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix and consequently contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions.

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