The Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA) will hold its first ICA Water Platform Meeting on 8 and 9 March 2012 in Frankfurt, Germany. The purpose of the event is to identify challenges and opportunities in the financing and implementation of Transboundary Water Resource and Climate Change Adaptation Programs.
Achieving water security in Africa requires special attention to water resource issues that include managing resources on a transboundary level, coordinating actors, developing climate-proof infrastructure, facilitating implementation of water infrastructure investments and promoting best practices.
In this context, the meeting will review the lessons learned from African and development partners in identifying major barriers and new possibilities in the development of sustainable African water infrastructure.
The outcome of the meeting will provide the ICA Water Platform with a work plan for 2012 and beyond. The activities designed as a result of this work plan will help address obstacles in the path of our ultimate goal - increasing investment and financing for infrastructure in Africa.
This invitation-only event is supported by the African Development Bank(AfDB) and hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The meeting will be chaired by Alex Rugamba, Director of AfDB's Regional Trade and Integration Department. Participants and speakers include Abu-Sabaa Aly, Chairman of the AfDB Climate Change Coordination Committee; Akissa Bahri, Coordinator of the African Water Facility; and other high-ranking representatives of the African Union Commission, ), the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) and the AfDB. Invited participants include members of African Regional Economic Communities and River Basin Organizations, along with ICA members (G8 countries and multilateral development banks) and their institutions.
About the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa
ICA was launched at the G8 Gleneagles summit in 2005, with the mission to help improve the lives and economic well-being of Africans by supporting increased investment in infrastructure in Africa, from public and private sources. As part of ICA's work in fostering coordination on a sector level, a Water Platform (WP) was launched in May 2011 and led by Germany. The WP facilitates matchmaking between ICA Members and African Stakeholders in the Water Sector, including regular dialogue to encourage joint investment activities.
