From Benjamin Mensah, GNA Special Correspondent, Abuja, Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria, June 21, GNA - Mr Jean-Louis Ekra, President of the Cairo-based Africa Export-Import Bank at the weekend said the Bank was ready to help industries to add value to their raw materials and facilitate trade between the continent and rest of the world. He said Africa had a very low participation of between two-and-half and three percent in the current global trade despite her rich natural and material resources.

"Africa's share in the global trade is insufficient," Mr Ekra said in a chat with journalists on Saturday, after he had met with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills, who is in Abuja, Nigeria for an ECOWAS summit.

Mr Ekra said his meeting with President Mills was to seek his guidance on how the Bank could develop its operations in Ghana with a view to developing intra-African trade and also trade between the continent and rest of the world.

He congratulated President Mills on his elections to the high office of President.

He said since its establishment in 1993, the Bank had been providing funding to its 34 member countries and their financial operators including Ghana, to develop trade and industries. It also offers advisory services to member countries to boost the export sector.

Mr Ekra said the Bank was currently giving attention to the development of the mining industry in Ghana and had consequently provided credit lines to help develop the supply chain. "Despite the existence of mining enclaves in Africa, they had very little or no links with the local economy," Mr Ekra said, adding that such missing links formed the focus of the Bank.

"We are trying to provide support for value addition to African exports to enhance their values. We have specific plans towards Ghana." Mr Ekra said the Bank had provided a line of credit of 40 million dollars to Merchant Bank of Ghana, based on its remittances abroad to help finance local entities and develop the local content of the mining sector.

The African Export Import Bank was providing another 40 million dollars for the development of Ghana's export sector, he added. 21 June 09