Ms Lucette Michaux-Chevry, President of the Guadeloupe Regional Council, Mr Philippe de Fontaine Vive, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank and Ms Monique Barbut, Executive Director of the Agence Française de Développement with responsibility for overseas development announce the creation of a EUR 76.22 million fund aimed at stimulating Guadeloupe's economy.
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), a financial institution specialising in overseas development aid, and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's financing institution, are contributing their financial backing and expertise to the Enterprise Development Fund set up by the Guadeloupe Region.
This new fund, financed by the two institutions to the tune of EUR 76.22 million, will be deployed in support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Guadeloupe in what are considered to be priority sectors by the public authorities and their financial counterparts. These include key components of the local economy - tourism, local and regional development, health - and emerging and growth sectors such as IT and agribusiness.
The clear purpose of this fund is to trigger a powerful development dynamic aimed at sustaining and boosting employment through support for activities generating local value added. It will complement bank lending and other instruments - regional equity fund, guarantee fund, venture capital company - set up by the Region and its financial partners in order to meet the financing requirements of target sectors swiftly.
This initiative underpins the efforts made by local, national and Community authorities under the Contractual Plan concluded between the State and the Guadeloupe Region and the 2000-2006 Single Programming Document (SPD), the main thrust of which is to promote enterprise development.
A tripartite framework agreement between the Guadeloupe Region, the AFD and the EIB will set out the fund's eligibility criteria and the practical financing arrangements. The Region has adopted Fund Rules intended for final beneficiaries. It will establish a committee that will decide on allocations following the appraisal of dossiers by an independent body. The application of funds will be monitored by the AFD for its own account and as the EIB's local representative. According to the Region's projections, the fund will be deployed over a four-year period.
The Guadeloupe Region has decided to set up a EUR 76.22 million enterprise development fund for SMEs designed to trigger a sustainable development dynamic aimed at safeguarding and bolstering employment through backing for activities generating value added.
This innovative facility is one of a range of financial engineering tools promoted or supported by the Region with a view to fostering the economic development of Guadeloupe companies.
It also complements the measures provided for in the Government's Overseas Finance Bill, thus making it possible to optimise the anticipated revitalisation of Guadeloupe's vital economic sectors such as tourism, health, and information and communications technologies.
The Guadeloupe Region has called on the AFD and the EIB, traditional partners of the regional authorities, to provide financing tailored to its objectives.
The EIB is making its contribution to the Guadeloupe enterprise development fund under the heading of regional development, a priority objective for the EU's financing institution. This loan will enable the Guadeloupe Region, an Objective 1 area under the EU structural funds', to boost its resources on keen maturity and interest rate terms, thus facilitating the creation of the fund.
Between 1998 and 2002, the EIB's regional development lending totalled EUR 22.9 billion, of which EUR 19.8 billion in the European Union (i.e., 60% of financing in the EU). Over the past ten years, Guadeloupe has received EUR 73 million in financial support from the EIB to develop its road and airport infrastructure.
The AFD is making its contribution to the Guadeloupe enterprise development fund under the heading of lending to overseas local authorities. This loan is partly benefiting from resources granted by the French State at a subsidised interest rate in the context of support for the tourism sector.
Since 1946, the AFD has been vested with a public interest remit consisting of providing benchmark credit and social housing services. It is represented locally by agencies - established in each region - as well as by financial, banking and real estate subsidiaries, through which the AFD Group operates in three complementary areas of business: financing of public authorities, private sector lending and social housing initiatives. In 2002, the AFD's direct commitments in Guadeloupe ran to over EUR 76 million.