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Press release - 15 12 10

Philippe VAN DE MAELE, Chairman of ADEME, and Dov ZERAH, Chief Executive Officer of Agence Française de Développement (AFD), signed a new three-year Partnership Framework Agreement on 15 December 2010. It will strengthen the partnership between AFD and ADEME to support concrete actions on energy, waste and the fight against climate change in three priority geographical areas: Sub-Saharan Africa, Mediterranean countries and the French Overseas Communities.

Through this agreement, the two agencies aim to strengthen their partnership in order to offer a comprehensive range of French services by building synergies between expertise, project financing and technical assistance. AFD and ADEME will be meeting this objective by drawing on the complementary nature of their skills, operating methods and economic instruments.

Actions to support the main orientations of the French cooperation policy

The framework agreement sets out the main areas for the two institutions' operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, Mediterranean countries and the French Overseas Communities.

• Access to energy: a focus will be to develop renewable energies and support rural electrification in Africa.
• Promoting renewable energies and energy efficiency in the Mediterranean: the Union for the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean Solar Plan  will be the priority framework for operations.
• Promoting sustainable cities: French consultants will be made available for city planning and management (environmental approach to urban planning, energy-climate processes).
• Support for the definition and implementation of States’ and the French Overseas Communities' policies to combat climate change: ADEME will provide its technical assistance for the definition of national and regional climate plans.
• Cooperation in the French Overseas Communities in several sectors, such as sustainable regional development, energy efficiency, building partnerships in the waste sector...

This commitment will take different forms depending on the topic area:

• Information exchanges between the two agencies.
• The development of a joint strategy in the areas for partnerships set out in the framework agreement.
• Joint management or financing of studies and research.
• The implementation of joint, coordinated or concerted operations.
• Mutual provision of expertise.
• Etc.

Extensive collaboration since March 2007 

These initial operations will be continued and extended thanks to the signing of this new framework agreement.

• Support for the development of a regional policy for access to energy and energy efficiency in West Africa via ECOWAS (Economic Community of West. African States) and WAEMU (West African Economic and Monetary Union).
• Support for training for French-speaking African negotiators participating in conventions on climate change.
• Support for the implementation of thermal and energy regulation in buildings in Morocco and Tunisia. 
• Project for geothermal power generation in Dominica and electricity interconnection with Guadeloupe and Martinique.

These initial operations will be continued and extended thanks to the signing of this new framework agreement.

ADEME IN BRIEF
The French Agency for the Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) is a public establishment  under the supervision of three ministries: the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and the Digital Economy and the Ministry of Higher Education and         Research. It participates in the implementation of public policies in the fields of environment, energy and sustainable development. ADEME makes its expertise and consultancy skills available to businesses, local communities, public   authorities and the general public in order to help them develop their environmental processes. It also  supports project financing, from the research to implementation phases, in the following sectors: waste  management, soil preservation, energy efficiency and renewable energies, air quality and noise abatement. www.ademe.fr . 
 

AFD IN BRIEF
Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is a public development finance institution that has been working to fight poverty and support economic growth in developing countries and the French Overseas Communities for almost 70 years. It implements the policy defined by the French Government. With offices in more than 50 countries and 9 French Overseas Communities, AFD finances and supports projects that improve people’s living conditions, promote economic growth and protect the planet. 
In 2009, AFD approved 71 projects that will help fight climate change for an amount totalling €2.4 billion. These projects will save 5 million tons of CO2 every year. Total commitments for the period 2005-2009 reach €5.4 billion, making AFD one of the main donors working in the field of climate change.   www.afd.fr

In 2009, AFD financed 71 projects to combat climate change totalling €2.4 billion, practically double the 2008 figure. AFD mobilizes an extremely wide range of financial tools in order to meet its partners’ demands: grants, soft or market-rate loans, guarantees, dedicated lines of credit for local banks, budget support for the development of national strategies, support to NGOs and local authorities…

Projects financed by AFD in 2009 will help save 4.8 million tons of Co2 equivalent every year (the equivalent of the annual emissions of 1.7 million French cars). AFD is one of the world’s top donors for climate aid with a contribution that accounts for over 10% of international public financing.

AFD is active in debates on how to finance the fight against climate change, reduce deforestation (REDD+) and support adaptation.

Dov ZERAH, Chief Executive Officer of AFD: “Beyond the global challenges that are crucial to the planet, the new financing for the fight against climate change provides a formidable opportunity for African countries to achieve their sustainable development policies. It also gives them the possibility to develop the incredible potential they have for renewable energy, forests and agriculture”.

Among the experiences AFD will be presenting in Cancun:

- “Climate and Development Plans”
AFD has developed an innovative approach to financial and technical support for countries which unilaterally decide to include climate in their national development strategies. It is financing “Climate Plans” in Indonesia, Mauritius, Mexico and Vietnam and is helping African countries to define Climate Plans.

- Adaptation
AFD is helping the most vulnerable countries to strengthen their resistance to climate disturbances by developing adaptation projects in the water, agriculture, urban development and infrastructure sectors. These projects amounted to €400m in 2009. For example, in 2010 AFD has financed programs for water saving and water resources management in Morocco, Nigeria and the Niger River Basin.

- Forests
AFD has been involved in the implementation of sustainable forest development plans in the Congo Basin for fifteen years now and is heavily involved in the development of a new financial mechanism to enhance sustainable forest management (REDD+). For example, in 2010 AFD is financing a sustainable forest management project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as access to Astrium-SpotImage satellite imagery.

- Private sector
AFD builds partnerships with local banks because they have the capacity to orient and catalyze climate investment decisions, particularly from businesses. The amounts AFD has committed in the climate sector for local banks today reach almost €1 billion and concern some thirty banks in about ten developing and emerging countries, including China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Tunisia, Turkey, Senegal, South Africa and Thailand.

- Cities
AFD supports the integration of climate change into urban policies and finances the related development investments. For example, AFD is supporting the sustainable development strategy of Greater eThekwini (which includes Durban) and is financing exclusive right-of-way transport in Bogota and Medellin.

In order to help give a better understanding of the issues of the climate negotiation, AFD has also supported the publication of the Note de décryptage de la négociation climat de Cancùn (Keys to Understanding the Cancun Climate Negotiation), in partnership with the Institut de l’énergie et de l’environnement de la francophonie (IEPF). The report can be downloaded by clicking here.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is a public development finance institution that has worked to fight poverty and support economic growth in developing countries and the French Overseas Communities for more than 60 years. AFD executes the French government’s development aid policies.

With offices in more than 50 countries, AFD finances and supports projects that improve people’s living conditions, promote economic growth and protect the planet. AFD-funded projects provide schooling for children, support farmers and small businesses, supply drinking water, preserve tropical forests and fight climate change, among other things.

AFD committed over €6.2 billion to financing aid activities in developing countries and the French Overseas Communities in 2009. The funds should permit the vaccination of 1.8 million children, give 7.3 million people access to drinking water and create or save jobs for 900,000 workers engaged in private enterprise; funding for energy efficiency projects will save nearly 5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

www.afd.fr

For further information about AFD and climate: http://climat .afd.fr

Press contacts
Laure Weisgerber, weisgerberl@afd.fr

Natacha Dreux (Hopscotch), ndreux@hopscotch.fr

PRESS RELEASE - 23 September 2010

TEB signs a €50 million loan agreement with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) to support SME energy efficiency investments and low-carbon technologies in Turkey

On 23 September 2010, Türk Ekonomi Bankasi (TEB) signed a €50 million loan agreement with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in the framework of bilateral cooperation between France and Turkey. The French Ambassador to Turkey, H.E. Bernard Emié, presided over the ceremony, which was held at the Palais de France in Istanbul. TEB was represented by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Varol Civil, and AFD by Mrs. Aude Flogny-Catisse, Director of the Financial Sector and Private Sector Development Division.

The loan allocated by AFD will allow TEB to offer its client SMEs and companies, as well as municipalities and municipal companies, long-term financing with conditions tailored to support environmentally-friendly investments. The mobilized funds will mainly be allocated to energy efficiency and to finance renewable energy investments made by TEB’s SME clients. The agreement also includes the implementation of specific technical assistance and a training program on the issues of energy efficiency and renewable energies, which aims to support TEB and its clients in this process. The amount of CO2 emissions reduced and energy savings made will be closely supervised. 

“One of AFD Group’s core strategic areas is to contribute to building low-carbon economies. The agreement we are signing today with TEB, one of our long-standing partners, is part of a wider program that our Group is implementing to scale up the development of renewable energies and energy efficiency in Turkey. In 2009 and 2010, AFD Group allocated an amount totaling €300 million in Turkey to combat climate change”, explains Aude Flogny-Catrisse, Director of AFD’s Financial Sector and Private Sector Development Division in Paris.

“This program falls within the framework of the partnership agreement signed between AFD and the Turkish Ministry of the Environment and Forestry in April 2009, which aims to support investments that contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions”, adds Laurent Duriez, AFD’s representative in Turkey.
“By acting as an intermediary for the implementation of AFD financing, TEB is playing an important role, which aims to boost energy efficiency and corporate investment in renewable energies and consequently support its clients in their exemplary investments. Nuh Cimento, one of Turkey’s major industrial groups, is the best example of this approach. In 2009, Nuh Cimento set up one of the biggest treatment units for sludge from municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants. The unit transforms this sludge into replacement fuel”, points out Mr. Varol Civil, Chief Executive Officer of TEB.

One of the first projects implemented under the TEB partnership with BNP Paribas concerns the international prospects offered to the Group’s clients by providing them with advisory services and banking support in their export activities via Client Relations Centers opened in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Adana in Turkey and integrating them into a network of 80 other centers in 48 countries worldwide. Under its partnership with BNP Paribas, Türk Ekonomi Bankasi is implementing its expertise in export financing, corporate financing, commercial banking services and private banking, as well as in the sector of retail banking and banking services for small and medium-sized enterprises. 

About AFD

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is a development finance institution with a mission defined by France’s public authorities. AFD is active in the field in over 60 countries and finances and supports economic and social projects that aim to improve living conditions for populations, boost economic growth and protect global public goods. In Turkey, AFD and its subsidiary Proparco aim to: (1) promote environmentally-friendly development with low greenhouse gas emissions; (2) promote best practices in terms of corporate social and environmental responsibility, and (3) promote balanced regional development.

About TEB

Türk Ekonomi Bankasi (TEB), founded in 1927, is a prestigious establishment that is renowned in Turkey’s banking sector. Since it was set up, TEB, with its network of subsidiaries and wide range of products and services, has been pursuing its operations in various banking sector activities, such as investment, leasing, factoring and asset management. In February 2005, BNP Paribas, one of the 10 largest banks in the world with the biggest commercial network in the euro zone and operating in 85 countries, became a partner of TEB, which has been a listed company since February 2000.

Editorial contacts

AFD  
AFD Group Representation Office in Turkey
Tel: +90 212 283 32 11
E-mail: afdistanbul@afd.fr
 
Türk Ekonomi Bankası
Tel: 0212 251 21 21 
Altan Erüs / altan.erus@teb.com.tr/ 5319
Feray Akşit Güney / feray.aksitguney@teb.com.tr  /5322