Abidjan, January 10, 2019 – The World Federation of Development Financing Institutions (WFDFI) Board of Governors (BOG) designated the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) as Secretariat of the Federation for three years at its meeting held in October 23, 2018, in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus.

The WFDFI BOG decided at its last meeting held at the Acapulco Resort and Convention Spa Hotel in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus, to pass over WFDFI’s Secretariat and activities – previously held by the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) – to the Secretariat of AADFI with effect from January 1, 2019, for a tenure of three years.

Therefore, Mr. Thabo P. Thamane, AADFI Chairman and CEO of Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), and M. Joseph A. Amihere, AADFI Secretary-General, are respectively Chairman and Secretary-General of the Federation for the period 2019 to 2021.

The WFDFI Secretariat “rotates” every three years since 1994 among the regional members of the Federation whose Secretaries General form the BOG, namely – in alphabetic order – the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI), the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), the Association of National DFIs in Member Countries of the Islamic Development Bank (ADFIMI), and the Association of Latin American and Caribbean DFIs (ALIDE).

The WFDFI was founded in Zurich in June 13, 1979 at the UNIDO-organized Development Bank Conference by AADFI, ADFIAP, ALIDE and KfW of Germany to serve as a forum for the regional DFI associations to exchange experiences and best practices and to serve as the focal point for DFIs around the world.