The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the purpose of advancing cooperation in select economic sectors between U.S. private sector and TDB Member States.

The MOU was signed during a virtual ceremony by Admassu Tadesse, TDB President and Chief Executive and Todd J. Abrajano, USTDA COO.

The agreement establishes a framework to facilitate the co-financing of transactions in TDB Member States in energy, transportation, ICT, healthcare and agribusiness through a variety of financing structures.

The institutions will also collaborate on project preparation facilities with the aim to bring projects to bankability, through technical assistance including feasibility studies and training.

In addition, the institutions have expressed interest to cooperate in the organization of select trade missions and conferences, as well as to exchange information on eligible transactions.

“This cooperation will be instrumental in fostering value-addition for exports, which will drive tangible triple bottom-line impact in our Member States. Together with USTDA, we look forward to boosting U.S. investment in and trade with our region,” says Admassu Tadesse, TDB President and Chief Executive.

“USTDA and The Trade and Development Bank are building upon a strong foundation of collaboration and partnership,” said Todd Abrajano, USTDA’s Chief Operating Office and Head of Agency, who signed the MOU on USTDA’s behalf. “USTDA’s three decades of project preparation expertise in Africa is a perfect complement to TDB’s record of providing customer-focused and innovative financing solutions.”

Mary Kamari, TDB Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations Executive added, “with exports from our Member States to the U.S. on the rise, we welcome the opportunity to join forces with USTDA to jointly craft new sustainable and scalable solutions through the financing of transformational projects.”