The Agence Française de Développement will finance sustainable infrastructure projects in the Caribbean.

Officials from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) have signed an agreement to provide US$33,000,000 toward the financing of sustainable infrastructure projects in the Caribbean.

The agreement supports the improvement of the resilience of Caribbean economies through the development of sustainable infrastructure projects with significant environmental or climate impacts.

The funds are being provided by AFD under a Credit Facility Agreement with the CDB. The AFD is the primary agency through which the Government of France provides funding for sustainable development projects.

The facility will be used by the CDB to augment financing for infrastructure projects in several areas: renewable energy, water and sanitation, waste management, adaptation of infrastructure to the effects of climate change, and protection of coasts and rivers.

At least 50 percent of the funds will be used to fund climate change adaptation and mitigation projects.

The agreement was signed last month at the CDB headquarters in Barbados, by French Ambassador to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and Barbados, Eric de la Moussaye, in the presence of CDB Vice-President of Operations, Patricia McKenzie.

Countries able to benefit from this facility are Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.

This marks the first time that CDB has accessed financing from AFD.