NAIROBI, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan government will invest 100 million euros (about 148 U.S. dollars) in Kenya to set up Sahel-Sahara Investment and Trade Bank.
The bank's chairman and general manager, Alhadi Alwafalli, said on Wednesday the proposed bank will be operational within the next few months.
"I have met the Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister and the Central Bank Governor and after these talks with the Vice President we are going to meet the Finance Minister," Alwafalli said during a meeting with VP Kalonzo Musyoka in Nairobi.
The development comes two months after Musyoka met Libyan President Muamar Gaddafi at the CEN-SAD Summit in Benin and proposed that the Sahel-Sahara Investment and Trade Bank's regional offices be established in Nairobi.
The bank's chairman said the formalities to set up the bank have started in earnest and the Chairman of the bank is in Kenya to begin the procedures.
Musyoka said the setting up of the bank will help enhance Nairobi's image as a financial hub in the region.
He noted that the operations of the bank will not only create jobs for Kenyans but also improve their living standards. He assured the chairman that all government departments concerned will help facilitate the opening of the bank.
The Libyan government is planning to invest 8 billion U.S. dollars in Africa's most profitable ventures, mainly in the oil, gas, air transport, tourism and the construction of oil refineries, among others, to help spur Africa's economic development.
