ECA and the African Trade Insurance Agency agree on cooperation in trade

The Memorandum envisages the promotion of trade and investment between Ukraine and African countries

The Export Credit Agency of Ukraine (ECA) and the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) have signed a Memorandum on Cooperation, according to ECA’s website.

The document provides for the establishment of a mechanism for cooperation between the agencies to support and facilitate foreign investment and trade between Africa and Ukraine. According to the Memorandum, the agencies can share general information to take advantage of their experience, resources and knowledge.

“Cooperation with ATI is extremely important for us, because it gives us additional opportunities to get comprehensive information about African markets. We are also looking forward to fruitful cooperation with them in reinsurance,” says Oleksii Kushnir, Deputy Chairman of the ECA’s Management Board.

The African Trade Insurance Agency was established in 2001 by seven member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) with technical and financial support of the World Bank to provide political and commercial risk insurance for attracting foreign direct investment to the region. ATI’s main products include investment insurance, trade credit insurance and reinsurance.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in March 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine increased the authorized capital of the Export Credit Agency by ₴1.8 billion. As a result, ECA finally has financial resources sufficient to insure, reinsure, and guarantee transactions of Ukrainian exporters abroad. This is needed to protect them against the risk of non-payment and financial costs associated with the implementation of international trade agreements.