AfDB President Goes Nordic for Top-Level Talks

16 October 2009
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African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

Date:19/10/2009

Location: Finland, Sweden

Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), will next week visit Helsinki for talks with political, economic and business leaders, and go on to Stockholm to take part in the 4th session of the European Development Days.

The visit to Helsinki between 19 and 21 October comes in the context of current global economic troubles. He will present his comments and forecasts at a seminar on "The Fate of Africa - Development Prospects and the Impact of Financial Crisis", held together with the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

Mr Kaberuka will also make a short presentation on a subject highly important to Africa - water - at a seminar organized by the Finnish Water Forum: "Highlights of Finnish Water Sector Know-How".

During his time in the Finnish capital, Mr Kaberuka will meet the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development and the Minister of Finance.

In keeping with the bank's deep involvement in infrastructure finance and its growing partnership with the private sector, Mr Kaberuka will also meet top executives, including from telecoms giant, Nokia, and leading marine energy and power plant group, Wärtsilä Corporation.

In Stockholm on 23 October, Mr Kaberuka, will speak at the European Development Days, an annual event bringing together 4,000 people and 1,500 organizations from the development community. Its aims are to boost the impact of development, build a global coalition against poverty, and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Kaberuka's mission comes at a time when development finance is ever more important to bolster Africa's economic growth. In disclosing AfDB's latest forecasts this week, its Group Chief Economist, Louis Kasekende, said: "In 2009, we are forecasting a growth rate of 2% for the continent, improving to 3.9% in 2010. To maintain growth on a higher trajectory, the challenge is to increase the level of investment to at least over 30% of GDP".

In that context, the recent decision by both Canada and Korea to boost their support for the Bank is especially welcome. At September's G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Canada announced the decision to triple its callable capital to the Bank, followed by a similar move from Korea.

Without adequate capital to call on, the Bank would be forced back to reduce its financing programs, threatening Africa's economic future.

Also in Helsinki next week, the representatives of the donor countries of the African Development Fund (ADF) will meet for the Mid-Term Review. The ADF is the bank's concessional window for development projects. The deputies will review the results so far, in terms of development success, of the $8.9 billion funds made available in December 2007 for the most recent replenishment of the Fund (ADF-11) for its 2008-10 operations.

Contacts

Antoinette Batumubwira

Read the original article on African Development Bank (AfDB).

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