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ODILE Renaud-Basso, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has emerged as the chairman of the Regional Development Banks (RDBs) in a virtual meeting on Tuesday.
According to a statement from the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday, banks’ heads reaffirmed their commitment to working together to build back better in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting was hosted by AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, the outgoing chair of the group.
Adesina was joined by Renaud-Basso, new President of the EBRD, Masatsugu Asakwa, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Mauricio Carone the new president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The RDBs’ heads discussed key areas for mutual cooperation and to boost their regions’ economies post COVID-19.
These included debt, climate resilience financing, the importance of resilient infrastructure, health infrastructure and access to and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
Adesina said that RDBs had so far disbursed about 230 billion dollars to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of novel coronavirus and to assist member countries.
He, however, insisted they needed to work even more closely as the world experienced a second wave of the virus, and given the looming debt crisis.
He said the meeting was an opportunity to share lessons on what was being done in the environment and attracting investments for the private sector.
“As RDBs I think that we are very special. I’d like to explore ways where we learn from each other and to develop cross-regional partnerships on shared solutions to things that we see,” Adesina said.
The AfDB president also noted that Africa had the added plight of huge job losses in the informal sector, and a deficit in healthcare.
He noted that this was an area of collaboration among the regions “especially in pharmaceuticals and healthcare infrastructure”.
“I look forward to ways in which we can leverage resources, in particularly attracting private sector investment,” he said.
At the end of the meeting, Adesina announced that EBRD would take over the chairmanship of the group.
“I hand it over to you to chair the meeting from 2021,” he told Renaud-Basso.
The RDB Heads hold meetings twice a year, in the margins of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual and Spring meetings.
NAN
– Dec. 9, 2020 @ 18:56 GMT |
Tags: as banks’ heads reaffirm commitment to recovery plans European bank emerges chair of RDBs
