As Africa's premier development finance institution, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is faced with the double challenge to enhance its excellence while identifying relevant areas for development and the mobilisation of funding resources, Morocco's King Mohammed VI said Thursday.

In his message delivered at the official opening of the 2012 AfDB annual meetings in Arusha, the monarch expressed confidence in the Bank's long-term strategy on operational, financial and institutional performance for the next decade starting in 2013.

"We believe the quality of the AfDB's work and the trust placed in it by its shareholders are major assets which should be reinforced in order to support and enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the projects designed for African member countries," the monarch said in the message delivered by former AfDB president Omar Kabbaj.

King Mohammed suggested that AfDB activities should back up projects aimed at reshaping the continent's economies and upgrading its position in the world value chain.

In addition, he said the Bank should support growth sectors and new African growth centres which innovate, take full advantage of opportunities offered by globalisation and bolster the positive image of a continent on the move.

"The green economy, renewable energies, sustainable agriculture and financial sectors constitute new growth and employment pools to draw on for generations of African populations longing for better human development," said King Mohammed VI. He stressed that Africa should count on its natural and human assets, and mobilise resources of its own in a transparent and responsible manner that allows for accountability.

Next year's annual meetings of the AfDB are slated to be held in Marrakesh, Morocco.