EMENA Sovereign Wealth Funds Foundation welcomes Growthfund, the National Fund of Greece
Malta Government Investments (MGI), the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), Bpifrance and COFIDES are pleased to announce that Growthfund, The National Fund of Greece, signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday in Madrid to become a member of the EMENA Foundation.
Both the Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo (COFIDES) and Growthfund will sign by early next year the deed of the “The European, Middle East and North Africa Sovereign Wealth Funds Foundation” based in Malta, laying the basis for a Mediterranean collaboration network.
The EMENA Foundation aims to serve as a regional platform for members to meet and exchange experiences and available information on investment opportunities to achieve national and sustainable economic development goals in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The collaboration network further aims to crowd in sovereign fund backed capital that will help unlock significant private investment flows to de-risk and fund projects or companies in the EMENA area that has an investment funding gap of USD700-900 billion, with a special focus on green technology, sustainable development, SMEs and innovation.
“Malta Government Investments is very proud to have led in the past two years the setting up of the EMENA (Europe, Middle East and North Africa) Sovereign Wealth Funds Foundation together with Bpifrance and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt, and to welcome today Growthfund, in addition to COFIDES last March in Malta, as new members. The EMENA SWF Foundation, based in Malta, is a network of sovereign funds in the region that will discuss and share co-investment opportunities.”, said Herald Bonnici, CEO of MGI.
“We are excited that the EMENA family is growing with the joining of Growthfund to further enhance the investment possibilities between us and with other countries in the EMENA region and Africa, especially around the Mediterranean. The area has so much potential with growth opportunities in infrastructure, real sector activities and digitalization.” said Ayman Soliman, CEO – The Sovereign Fund of Egypt.
“We had a very good EMENA meeting hosted by COFIDES in Madrid. I am pleased to see that our coalition is growing, as Growthfund has joined us as member. It demonstrates that this initiative answers to a real need. The EMENA is an ambitious project, but our discussions have shown that we have many opportunities. We have now to develop our operational tools to move forward and achieve concrete results.”, said Pascal Lagarde, Executive Director of Bpifrance and Chairman of the Board of the EMENA Foundation.
“We are honoured to host this meeting at COFIDES and willing to continue our strategic partnership with the EMENA Sovereign Wealth Funds Foundation. For COFIDES, this is a strategic partnership to strengthen the Mediterranean region through high impact investments, with a special focus in green technology, food security, sustainable development, SMEs and innovation. COFIDES is committed to continue its partnerships with sovereign wealth funds, key financial players thanks to its stabilizing role through medium and long-term investment strategies. COFIDES is also an active member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) and the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds network.”, said José Luis Curbelo, Chairman of COFIDES.
“We are very proud that Growthfund, the National Fund of Greece, joins forces with the EMENA network. We believe that there is a huge potential among SWFs that share the same geography to benefit from a large toolbox of multilateral institutions, co-explore investment projects in the EMENA region, and share experiences and best practices for sustainable development.”, said Gregory D. Dimitriadis, CEO of Growthfund.
