'Scaling up of infrastructure financing in line with Africa's vision for the next 50 years" is the theme of a round table that will take place in Tunis, Tunisia on 19 July 2013.
The aim of the roundtable is to rationalize approaches and foster synergies so as to optimize the impact of the various initiatives within a collective and coordinated framework, as well as to strengthen partnerships to accelerate the delivery of Africa's transformation agenda.
The meeting, whose attendance will include African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Executive Secretary, Carlos Lopes, and African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Donald Kaberuka, will focus on innovative financing to support Africa's own development efforts and define urgent priorities and actions.
The priorities will be anchored on on-going initiatives such as the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), various initiatives by the Regional Economic Communities, (RECs), as well as innovative financing vehicles, in particular the Africa50 Fund which was endorsed by the Board of Governors of the AfDB at its Annual Meetings held in Marrakech, Morocco, in May 2013.
In recent continental forums the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), on the basis of their distinctive roles and responsibilities, reaffirmed their commitment to support the vision of Africa's leaders "to transform the continent over the next 50 years and collaborate closely with Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other partners to foster the agenda of an integrated and prosperous continent".
The pillars of this new emphasis include infrastructure, regional trade, agriculture and food security and industrialization. They will also include human development anchored on peace and the rule of law, as well as an enabling environment for private sector participation.
Participants will also include Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, as well as the secretaries-general of the RECs and the presidents or CEOs of African sub-regional development finance institutions.