July 21 2010 -- The head of the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, also known as the PTA Bank, Mr Michael Godwe, suggested after meeting President James Michel yesterday that his institution wanted to see "how best the local business community can benefit from their resources".

Dr Gondwe said Seychelles became a member of the bank in 2005 and has already benefited as the PTA Bank has financed major tourism establishments including the Ephelia and Félicité hotels.

He said he expects Seychellois firms to apply for financing from the bank and so help to boost the economy and the country's growth.

He thanked Mr Michel, who he said has shown a lot of interest in the growth of the bank.
"The President and other Seychelles officials have shown keen interest in the bank and tried to find out whether it is properly funded," he said.

"We expect to see more activity between the bank and Seychelles. Your country is at the centre of the bank's growth. We want to see the bank's growth translate into some growth in the business community."

The bank's board members will also hold their meetings here, he said.
The PTA Bank was established in 1985 under the Preferential Trade Area which later became the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).

It has 18 member states, 17 of which are Comesa members. China was the first non-regional member state to join the PTA Bank, in 2000.

The African Development Bank is the sole institutional shareholder; China and the AfDB each have a 12.3% shareholding in the PTA Bank.

The other members are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The bank's headquarters are in Burundi, and its other offices are in Kenya and Zimbabwe.
The Nairobi office is responsible for the northern region of the bank's geographical area of service, and the Bujumbura office is responsible for the central region.

The Harare office is responsible for the southern service area, including Mauritius and Seychelles.