Addis Ababa, 11 July 2013 (ECA) - A Roundtable on the theme, “Financing Africa’s Transformation” is scheduled to take place in Tunis from 19-20 July. Organized by the African Union Commission (AUC), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), the meeting will be dedicated to the challenge of financing Africa’s vision over the next 50 years. It will specifically explore opportunities for financing Africa’s infrastructure and, in particular, through the AfDB’s Africa50Fund.
According to the organizers, the competitiveness of African firms is due lack of infrastructure, which has been in dire need of funding. The AfDB's Africa50 Fund is being haild as an innovative vehicle to advance a number of key related areas, including Africa’s natural resources, internal savings, external support and capital markets to finance bankable, high-return, transformational regional infrastructure projects. In this respect, the three prime Pan African institutions will therefore, meet in Tunis to rationalize approaches and foster synergies.
“We need to optimize the impact of the various initiatives within a collective and coordinated framework,” says Mr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa.
“Ultimately, our aim is to strengthen partnerships to accelerate the delivery of Africa’s transformation agenda,” he adds.
Note to editors:
This Roundtable will focus on innovative financing to support Africa’s own development efforts and define urgent priorities and actions. The priorities will be anchored on on-going initiatives such as PIDA and other initiatives by the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The Africa50Fund was endorsed by the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank at the Annual Meetings held in Marrakech, Morocco, in May 2013.
The meeting will agree on modalities for accelerating Africa’s transformation and on measures to mobilize its own resources to support Africa’s development, building on on-going and planned initiatives by the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), among others.
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