Zambia hosts 51st AfDB annual meeting

Business Reporter
HEADS of state and government, bank governors, development partners and delegates will converge in Lusaka, the Zambian capital this week, to attend the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) 51st annual meeting, which begins today.

The regional banking group reported yesterday the five-day deliberations (May 23-27), which run under the theme “Energy and Climate Change”, would unveil a new agenda for the continent’s economic transformation.

AfDB president, Akinwumi Adesina, will preside over his first annual meeting since assuming office as the bank’s 8th president on September 1, 2015.

Adesina has said that participants will examine a host of burning issues in Africa as well as focus on the bank’s five new priority actions — the High 5s —designed to scale up its operations for the continent’s transformation.

These are: light up and power Africa, feed Africa, industrialise Africa, integrate Africa and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.

“Each of those is high on the agenda in Lusaka,” Adesina said, noting that three of them will take a quantum leap forward as the bank unveils new strategies, and a programme to create 25 million jobs for young people over the next decade.

“All of them need to be debated and owned, as much by governments, as by business, as by civil society, as by the press, as by the people of Africa. The agenda is huge: We want to see nothing less than the social and economic transformation of Africa. We want to unleash massive potential — for Africa and for the world,” he emphasised.

A central theme of the discussion will be energy, considered to be the continent’s Achilles’ heel’.

This topmost priority of the High 5s speaks to the bank’s determination to tackle the severe energy deficit on the continent where 650 million people do not have access to electricity.

Governors, usually finance or economy ministers, representing the 54 African and 26 non-Africa member countries of the bank group are expected to review its 2015 operations report and approve its activities and budget for the coming year.

In 2015, AfDB made loans and grants of $8.8 billion, a 25 percent increase on 2014.

During the high-level meetings and thematic forums, the bank said, participants will make in-depth assessments of the performance of Africa countries in the past year and envision how the bank can help them cope with the difficult economic situation they face due to the global economic downturn and the fall in commodity prices.

Despite the prevailing “economic headwinds”, the continent has demonstrated extraordinary resilience, posting growth rates of four percent, a percentage point higher than the global average and even higher in some countries in 2015, Adesina said.

Several heads of state are expected to attend the meetings, the bank’s flagship event that is expected to bring together some 3,000 delegates. Other invitees include development partners, representatives of international organisations, academia, civil society and the media.

“The annual meetings are the bank’s window on the world. They showcase its operational work; its knowledge work; its advocacy work; and it’s convening power,” Adesina said.

You Might Also Like

Comments