The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank’s (TDB) 33rd AGM |26 August 2017
Seychelles to host high level international event
The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank’s (TDB) 33rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held 
at the Savoy Resort and Spa, Seychelles, from August 28-31, 2017.
The planned activities include the Board of Governors Meeting, Investor Round Table, the Central Bank Round Table, the Eminent Panel and a Gala Dinner.
The high level international event will gather government and private sector leaders, investors, ministers of finance and other development finance partners to discuss investment opportunities on the continent and challenges in managing investments and achieving development impact from a practitioner point of view.
“It is a great privilege to host TDB in Seychelles, once again. Its presence here signifies the increasingly pivotal role that Seychelles plays in the regional and continental development agenda,” said Dr Peter Larose, Minister for Finance, Trade and Economic Planning of the Republic of Seychelles, who is also the incoming chair to the Board of Governors of the TDB.
As part of TDB’s effort to expand the Bank’s membership and recruitment of new stakeholders, an Eminent Persons Advisory Panel has been established. The objective of the Panel is to advise the Bank on matters of strategies, partnerships and resource mobilisation in the context of the Bank’s next five-year corporate strategy (2018-2022).
Eminent guests to attend the event include Rupiah Bwezani Banda, former President of Zambia, Erastus Mwencha, former deputy chair of the African Union, Dr Donald Kaberuka, former President of the African Development Bank, Dr Christopher Humphrey, development expert from the University of Zurich, among others.
The Central Bank Placement Programme (CBPP) Roundtable to be attended by Central Bank governors from the region, will discuss Central Bank placement and investment strategies, regulations and criteria and how these could be aligned to the Bank’s resource mobilisation and funding objectives.
An Investor Roundtable will also take place where pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign funds will discuss their investment mandates, investment opportunities on the continent and how to identify those that will generate significant impact on economic development.
The 33rd AGM of the TDB will also be an opportunity to reflect on the bank’s achievements and look at sustainable ways of tackling future challenges in the diverse industries and sectors of the region.
“In recent years, we have been giving a big boost to our financing of trade, enterprise and infrastructure, which is evidenced in the tripling of our loan assets in the past five years. Cumulatively, the bank has provided close to US $10 billion in financing for trade and socio-economic investment in the region,” said TDB president and CEO Admassu Tadesse.
“We have funded several landmark renewable energy projects such as Turkana Wind Power in Kenya, HydromaxMinihydro in Uganda, and industrial projects such as cement and steel plants in DR Congo, Djibouti, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Other landmark projects funded including the Burundi Fibre Optic Backbone Project and Kilwa Power in Tanzania. We will continue scaling up, with continued attention to sustainability and good corporate governance,” Mr Tadesse further added.
Established in 1985, TDB is a multilateral, treaty-based financial institution with immunities and privileges, and currently a balance sheet of about US $4 billion Currently, it has as shareholders, 21 member countries from the tripartite region (COMESA, EAC and SADC), the African Development Bank, the National Pension Fund of Mauritius, Mauritian Eagle Insurance Company Ltd, Rwanda Social Security Board, Africa Re, ZEP RE, Seychelles Pension Fund, BancoNacionalInvestimento (BNI), the National Social Security Fund of Uganda and SACOS Group as institutional shareholders, while the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Belarus (Paritetbank) are non-regional member countries.
The Bank provides the opportunity for investors to gain exposure to fast growing economies through a profitable Development Finance Institution (DFI) with a sound balance sheet and strong growth prospects. The Bank aims to be a preferred and leading regional DFI in Eastern and Southern Africa.