Tiémoko Meyliet Kone, Governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and Khaled Al-Aboodi, CEO & General Manager of the Islamic Corporation for the Development private sector (ICD), signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation providing a framework for partnership and establishes the guidelines and the terms of cooperation between the ICD and the BCEAO to support financing for SMEs/SMIs in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). The Council of Ministers of the Union adopted at its meeting on Sept. 29, 2015 the "mechanism to support financing for SMEs/SMIs in the WAEMU" whose implementation monitoring was entrusted to the BCEAO. Under the MoU, ICD provides support for the operationalization of the support mechanism to finance for SMEs/SMIs in the WAEMU by a direct participation of up to $30 million for the establishment of a Shariah-compliant investment fund for SMEs/SMIs. In coordination with BCEAO, ICD will attract other investors in order to increase the size of the fund up to $100 million. BCEAO provides incentives for credit institutions to finance SME / SMI, conducts studies on support and coaching structures in favor of SMEs/SMIs and on the impact of the support scheme to finance SMEs/SMIs in the WAEMU, promotes complementary instruments tailored to the financing of SMEs/SMIs (credit bureau, leasing, venture capital, etc.). Both institutions acknowledged the importance of SME/SMI in the economic growth in general and the private sector development in particular in the member countries of the WAEMU. They emphasized their common will to work towards strengthening their cooperation, including the financing of the economies of the Union. Al-Aboodi said the MoU will strengthen ICD's support towards the regional economies of WAEMU while providing knowledge and mobilizing resources to support SMEs/SMIs. Kone welcomed this new partnership, which should contribute to the promotion of SMEs/SMIs in the member countries of WAEMU. This promotion is important for economic transformation of the zone. It is expected that the partnership will foster economic growth and create jobs manly for young people. Members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. UEMOA member countries are working toward greater regional integration with unified external tariffs. UEMOA has established a common accounting system, periodic reviews of member countries' macroeconomic policies based on convergence criteria, a regional stock exchange, and the legal and regulatory framework for a regional banking system. — SG
