EXIM Chairman Kimberly Reed Participates in Award Ceremony of USTDA Training Grant to the Societe Nationale d'Electricite
WASHINGTON - Export-Import Bank of the United States President and Chairman Kimberly A. Reed today participated in a ceremony for the award of a training grant from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to the Societe Nationale d'Electricite (Senelec), Senegal's national utility, in connection with a project financed by EXIM and being implemented by the U.S. company Weldy-Lamont Associates, Inc. to provide grid extension and off-grid energy to villages in Senegal. The USTDA training grant would provide advanced capacity building trainings focused on transmission and distribution to Senelec and others in the Senegalese energy sector.
On March 31, 2020, the EXIM Board of Directors approved approximately $91.5 million in loan guarantee financing for the project, which would support an estimated 500 U.S. jobs in 14 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. The project is also expected to bring electricity to approximately 330,000 Senegalese in more than 400 villages.
"This project is a significant win for both our great American exporters and workers across 14 states, as well as the United States and Senegal," said Chairman Reed. "This is truly a whole-of-government success story in support of Prosper Africa, and I am very pleased at how our various U.S. government agencies have worked together to make this a project a reality. EXIM and the entire Trump Administration are committed to the goals of Prosper Africa - to increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa - and this project demonstrates that commitment. EXIM has a congressional mandate to support renewable energy, small businesses, and exports to sub-Sharan Africa, and we are proud to work with Weldy-Lamont on this project, where a U.S. company was chosen over Chinese-backed competition."
"This project will provide energy access to remote rural communities in Senegal, bringing power to an estimated 440,000 people in Senegal," said Todd Abrajano, USTDA Chief Operating Officer, Head of Agency. "This grant demonstrates USTDA's commitment to Senegal's energy sector by leveraging U.S. government tools to support U.S. companies and our partners overseas."
ABOUT EXIM:
EXIM is an independent federal agency that promotes and supports American jobs by providing competitive and necessary export credit to support sales of U.S. goods and services to international buyers. A robust EXIM can level the global playing field for U.S. exporters when they compete against foreign companies that receive support from their governments. EXIM also contributes to U.S. economic growth by helping to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs in exporting businesses and their supply chains across the United States. In recent years, approximately 90 percent of the total number of the agency's authorizations has directly supported small businesses. Since 1992, EXIM has generated more than $9 billion for the U.S. Treasury for repayment of U.S. debt.
For more information about EXIM, please visit www.exim.gov.