The African Investment Forum took place in November in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the details excluded from the confidentiality agreements on Portuguese-language projects were given to Lusa today.

Of the nine initiatives in Portuguese-language African Countries (PALOP), worth €24 billion, three are based in Angola in the areas of energy, industry and agriculture.

Another two are from Cabo Verde, a fund and an energy project, and four are from Mozambique, in the areas of gas, industry, agriculture and transport.

Of this range of nine business promises, six - in the energy, industry and agriculture sectors - for an overall value of $702.2 million (€631 million) are potentially eligible for the Lusophone Compact programme.

The Lusophone Compact is an initiative launched at the end of 2017 by the AfDB and the Portuguese government to finance projects launched in Portuguese-language countries with financial support from the AfDB and with guarantees from the Portuguese state, which thus ensure that the cost of financing is lower and with less risk, and was signed in Johannesburg in November 2018.

The AfDB, Mozambique and Portugal signed the first agreement on March 12 in Maputo to support investment projects, the first country-specific agreement, which gives access to AfDB financing combined with guarantees from Portugal through the Society for Development Finance (SOFID).

"All the projects presented were able to secure the interest of several investors," the source from the AfDB said.

There were also three other young entrepreneurs from Angola and Cabo Verde with projects in the area of information technology who presented their projects to investors (venture capital and business angels, among others) in an open session in the market.

The expressions of interest will now be accompanied by the AfDB itself, together with bodies from each country.

The details of investors and possible financial participation are under confidentiality agreements applied to the forum.