President of the Africa Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina is urging greater support for the Africa50 Infrastructure Fund.
“With Africa50 we have an important partner, with all the enthusiasm and vigour that is necessary for Africa’s economic transformation,” he said at a meeting of shareholders in Senegal.
“It deserves to succeed”, he continued, “and for this it has the support of the African Development Bank, [and] its shareholder countries.”
Membership of Africa50 has grown to 25 after Guinea and the DRC joined up.
The AfDB President said that Africa50 must help to set up a series of ‘bankable’ projects in line with the High 5s – focusing on the energy sector – and promote public-private partnerships.
Hosted by the President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, the meeting was attended by representatives of African States, Africa50 shareholders, Senegalese civil servants, members of the diplomatic corps, and financial partners.
Sall expressed his firm commitment to Africa50, which he said aims to be a “catalyst for private sector investment, both inside and outside Africa, in order to develop infrastructure on the continent and plug the deficit in public resources”.
“Africa is open for business,” Sall declared, pointing out that the continent has defined its priorities with initiatives such as the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).
The CEO of Africa50, Alain Ebobissé, confirmed that the fund fulfills its development and investment mandate.
“With your support, Africa50 will act as a bridge between the African states that created it and public companies operating in the infrastructure sector, as well as private infrastructure backers, project promotors, other financial institutions capable of deploying resources in the long term, and institutional investors, with the primary goal of speeding up the implementation of infrastructure projects in Africa,” he said.
