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In October 2021, ATI participated in the Berne Union General Assembly held in Budapest, Hungary, where several partnerships were established with International Export Credit Agencies and Regional Institutions. ATI was confirmed as the Host for the 2022 Berne Union AGM to be hosted in Kigali, Rwanda in November 2022.  Amongst some of the fruitful deliverables from the Berne Union Community of over 180 delegates were the signatures of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ATI and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), MOU with ETIHAD Export Credit Insurance of the UAE to enhance co-operation and partnership in promoting investment as well as regional and global trade across the continent.

In the year, several high-level meetings were held between ATI and several Regional Development Financial Partners to further strengthen institutional cooperation to increase ATI’s visibility and footprint across the African continent.

Way Forward

Experience over the years has demonstrated that the ability of countries to raise the necessary equity and complete their administrative and legal membership requirements for the purpose of joining ATI, determines the pace and outcome of their membership processes.

Building upon lessons learnt over the years, it is imperative to find a significant correlation between the challenges of mobilizing membership finances and completing administrative procedures of ratifying the ATI Treaty to enable prospective member states and institutions to benefit fully from their Membership in ATI.

It is for this reason that ATI’s Management has embarked on an aggressive membership and partnership development drive anchored on the following guiding principles:

• Identifying the key benefits and opportunities of ATI Membership to member states & Institutional shareholders;
• Expanding ATI’s product offering, therefore, making them relevant to market needs;

• Assisting existing and prospective member states to obtain financial support for their membership funding from various development partners and international development financial institutions, and finally;
• Strengthening cooperation between ATI and strategic financial and development partners across the globe.

It is within this framework that ATI aims to increase its footprint across Africa and beyond. As part of our medium-long term strategy, the Department of Investor Relations & Membership under the auspices of the Chief Executive Office and Membership and Partnership Development Committee, aims at supporting all prospective shareholders and African countries who have formally applied for membership but are yet to complete their membership requirements.

Our intentions for this year include supporting African countries such as Angola, Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Egypt, Chad, Gabon, Mali, Mozambique and Prospective Financial Institutions such as KfW, BOAD and AXA XL to complete their membership. In its pursuit of fulfilling its mandate, ATI is also continuing to target other eligible African countries, regional economic communities as well other financial and regional institutions to join ATI.

With the immense funding opportunities from strategic financial and development partners such as:

• AfDB, which is not only a shareholder but has funded several member states,
• EIB, which was the leading membership funding partner in 2021;
• KfW is not only a strategic development partner supporting ATI Membership Financing but has also committed significantly to the expansion of ATI’s Renewable Energy Solutions (RLSF) to the African Member States and;
• World Bank Group financed the initial batch of COMESA member states eligible for IDA funding and provided financial and technical support. ATI also intends to strengthen its strategic partnerships and cooperation with international and regional organizations such as African Union, AfDB Group, BADEA, EIB, TDB, UNECA, COMESA, ECOWAS, ECCAS, FSA, AfCFTA Secretariat, EU and the World Bank Group, amongst others, to improve its visibility and outreach across the globe.

Membership in ATI has recently become more attractive to potential shareholders as it has displayed a level of profitability, with the increase in share prices from the initial US$100,000/share to US$149 956/share (as of December 2021), and returns on investment continue to grow, despite the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic globally. For ATI to fulfil its mandate of de-risking trade and investments in Africa, mobilizing membership funding remains a crucial element for its successful membership development. ATI intends to gradually extend its Pan-African outreach to all eligible African countries, private and corporate institutions, as well as international development financial institutions and the Non-African Member States.

By Kenneth Tanyi and Hellen Ooko