EBID Board of Governors holds first meeting

Accra, Aug. 26, GNA - Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, has urged the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) to fashion its programmes in line with NEPAD activities to benefit all sectors.

Dr Apraku also asked the Bank to do all it could to complement the work of the African Development Bank (ADB) in the West Africa Sub-Region.

The Minister said this at the first meeting of the Bank's Board of Directors after Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama inaugurated it in Lome, Togo, a statement issued by the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and NEPAD said on Tuesday.

Dr Apraku is Ghana's representative on the Board of ggovernors. The statement signed by Mr Kwame Nuako, Special Assistant of the Minister, said a representative of Togo was elected to chair the Board. The chairmanship would rotate among member states.

At the meeting, members urged their colleagues, who had not ratified the Bank's protocol, to do so.

They also called on members, who had defaulted in paying their allocated shares under the first tranche of the called-up capital to make full payment as soon as possible.

The EBID is a holding company with two subsidiaries - ECOWAS Regional Investment Bank and the ECOWAS Regional Development Fund. It has an authorised capital of 603 million units of accounts (750 million dollars) allocated to regional member states and non-regional members in the proportion of 66.67 per cent and 33.33 per cent, respectively.