Equatorial Guinea hosts AfDB's 54th Annual Meeting

Tue, Jun 4, 2019 | By publisher


Africa

THE Equatorial Guinea will host the 54th Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank, AfDB, from 11-14 June 2019, under the theme ‘Regional integration for Africa’s economic prosperity.’

A statement by the AfDB on Monday said that the meetings would bring together about 2000 delegates, who will provide a unique forum for governments, businesses, civil society, think tanks, academia, and the media worldwide, to dialogue on critical issues concerning Africa’s development.

It added that Vincent Nmehielle, the Secretary-General of the Bank told a news conference that the 2019 Annual Meetings would provide an opportunity to show why regional integration is important.

“Equatorial Guinea is one of the most developed countries in Africa, but not many people know that,” he said.

According to him, the meetings will include statutory sittings of the Governors and shareholders of the Bank, and a series of knowledge events, including discussions around the Africa Economic Outlook, one of the Bank’s flagship reports.

“A High-Level Presidential Dialogue on Boosting Africa’s Economic Integration will provide Heads of States an opportunity to discuss challenges and corrective measures to fast track Regional Integration.

“Robust conversions on regional value chains in agriculture are on the meetings’ agenda.

In his remarks, Celestin Monga, the African Development Bank’s Chief Economist and Vice President of Economic Governance & Knowledge Management said: “When you put your forces together, you can achieve the critical mass to be solid player on the global scene.”

“Trade is and will remain the main engine of growth for many of our countries. More than 60% of global trade now occurs in global value chains. We need to see that African economies are getting into global value chains, not just to process unprocessed raw commodities but transform goods creating value additions, creation jobs locally,” Monga noted.

On the Continental Free Trade Area, which came into force on May 30th, the Bank has provided the grounds to the African Union Commission to launch the Secretariat with close to $5 million.

Twenty-eight journalists from 21  Africa countries attended the press conference, moderated by Victor Oladokun, the Bank’s Director of Communication and External Relations. The journalists are taking part in a three-day Sustainable Development Reporting Course, first of its kind at the Bank, organized in collaboration with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

– June 4, 2019 @ 13:05 GMT |

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