Karin Oszuszky, OPEC Fund Senior Investment Manager (right) and Martina Zimmerl, Head of Trade Finance at Raiffeisen Bank International (below right)
EVENT: EBRD Trade Finance Forum, Vienna
TRADE FINANCE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND
OPEC Fund participates in EBRD Trade Finance Forum in Vienna
T he international banking community came together in Vienna in early October for the 2023 Trade Finance Forum hosted by the Trade Facilitation Programme of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Trade is vital for keeping the global economy going and “in times of multifaceted crises our support is more important than ever,” EBRD Managing Director, Financial Institutions, Francis Malige, said in his opening address. Joining a panel with the major international financial institutions Erste Group, Raiffeisen Bank International and UniCredit Bank, the OPEC Fund’s Senior Investment Manager Karin Oszuszky presented the institution’s offer to clients from all over the world. The OPEC Fund’s trade financing facility provides partners with import and export funding solutions, structured commodity finance, financing of regional or local banks and unfunded risk-sharing programs. Partners include private corporations, trading companies, government agencies as well as financial institutions. The EBRD was the OPEC Fund’s first partner in trade finance back in 2008 and Ms. Oszuszky underlined the OPEC Fund’s ambition to intensify this cooperation. “We welcome EBRD’s plans to expand into sub-Saharan Africa and stand ready to work together in joint countries of operations. Trade financing is vital in
so many areas and can address pressing issues from fighting food insecurity to strengthening climate resilience,” she said. In an interview with Trade Finance Global (TFG), Ms. Oszuszky emphasized the OPEC Fund’s worldwide outreach: “We are very well diversified because we have a worldwide mandate, and we work in more than 125 countries. Thanks to a nimble and efficient structure, the OPEC Fund is also able to respond to emergencies quickly as demonstrated with our COVID-19 Response Package and our Food Security and Action Plan.” Meanwhile, a Climate Action Plan commits the OPEC Fund to address “the core challenge of our times,” as Ms. Oszuszky put it. According to this plan, the OPEC Fund is committed to raising its share of climate financing to 40 percent of all new financing by 2030. Trade plays an important role in energy transition. “Our trade finance programs help keep countries integrated in the global economy so that they can trade with each another safely,” says Mr. Malige. Tools like letters of credit and letters of guarantee make it possible to export solar panels from, say, China to Tanzania or to import cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo to New Zealand. The OPEC Fund’s trade finance window was launched 15 years ago
and to date has financed more than 200 operations for more than US$4.4 billion. All operations are designed to have real development impact, for instance by supporting initiatives that create and maintain employment and improve production and lending capacity. The facilities also aim to support underserved segments of the market, improve competition, increase quality while driving down consumer prices, provide long-term capital or risk capital and prioritize economic sectors that have a multiplier effect on socio-economic development.
Trade financing is vital and can address pressing issues from fighting food insecurity to strengthening climate resilience.
Karin Oszuszky, OPEC Fund Senior Investment Manager
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