The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group's annual consultative meeting of stakeholders on corporate governance took place on Tuesday in Tunis. Opened by the Bank Group's Vice President for Infrastructure and Private Sector Development, Mandla Gantsho, the meeting enabled participants to assess the progress made in the area of corporate governance in different regions of the continent. They also exchanged information and discussed the coordination of planned programs for 2008. Participants also reviewed the activities and mandate of the Pan-African Corporate Governance Forum. They discussed preparations for a workshop on the role of corporate governance in accelerating sustainable development. The workshop will be held as a side event during the African Development Bank's 2008 Annual Meetings scheduled to take place in Maputo, Mozambique.
Since adopting its strategy, the Bank Group has been engaged in a number of activities aimed at laying the foundations for sustainable initiatives that will contribute to anchor best corporate governance practices in development programs, at country, regional and corporate levels. The Bank Group has also taken steps to identify ways of strengthening its internal institutional framework in order to better carry out its leadership role of promoting corporate governance in Africa in line with its mandate under the NEPAD framework. Within this context, the Bank Group has, in the past, organized a series of meetings and events aimed at improving coordination among key actors involved in promoting corporate governance. The events also aimed at increasing the transfer of knowledge and the dissemination of information in areas relating to corporate governance amongst partners. They seek to develop effective interventions to tackle corporate governance challenges based on best practices and lessons learnt.
On the sidelines of last year's Annual meetings in Shanghai, a workshop was held on the role of corporate governance in promoting entrepreneurship development in Asian emerging economies with a view to learning lessons that could benefit Africa. During that meeting, participants, including development partners, called on the Bank Group to continue playing a leading role in identifying and conducting activities that would enable corporate governance contribute to the consolidation of sustainable growth across the continent, especially in fragile states. Participants at the workshop also recommended that the Bank Group play a key role in making the existing pan-African framework, the Pan-African Consultative Corporate Governance Forum (PACCGF), more responsive to the needs of the countries and ensure it is better aligned to NEPAD's objectives and its African Peer Review Mechanism Programs.
The stakeholders' annual consultative meeting on corporate governance was attended by over 20 institutions, including key development players such as the OECD, the World Bank, UNECA, FMO, DBSA and CIPE as well as representatives and experts from business institutes and associations.
