African Ministers Make Progress On the Africa Power Vision

2 May 2014
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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)
press release

Addis Ababa — A ministerial consultation on the Africa Power Vision took place on the margins of the World Economic Forum on Africa on 8 May in Abuja, convened by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance for Nigeria, Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and co-hosted by Mr. Chinedu Osita Nebo, the Nigerian Minister of Power.

The consultation had as its purpose, to deepen discussions on the Vision for African power and develop a consensus and roadmap leading to the August, 2014 meeting to be hosted by United States President Barack Obama. The consultation was a follow up to a first meeting of ministers in charge of the power sector that was held on 28th March this year on the side-lines of the Seventh Joint ECA/AU Annual Conference of Ministers of Finance, Economy, Planning and Development, during which, a draft Vision for African Power was reviewed and discussed.

Opening remarks were delivered by Ministers Okonjo-Iweala and Chinedu Nebo; Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC); Mr. Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO, NEPAD; and Mr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

All speakers emphasized the positive strides that the continent had made and agreed that the next steps were to refine and further develop the Africa Power Vision and advance the initial discussions that had taken place in March. The presence of the AUC, NEPAD, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and ECA leadership was hailed as a strong demonstration of African leadership and commitment to this important initiative.

The ECA Executive Secretary stated that the need for championing, home grown organic solutions, and regional thinking are key issues for bring the vision to fruition. "The Power Africa Initiative is an enabler, and the Africa Power Vision, derived from Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa - PIDA - is focused on making projects more bankable and easier to sell," he said.

Participants included Ministers of Power and Finance from Nigeria, South Africa, Togo, Rwanda, and Ghana as well as select multilateral and private sector entities.

A meeting of the working group is scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the upcoming AfDB annual meeting in May, to develop a framework for the governance and legal framework of selected projects. The Vision will then be presented to African Heads of States during the upcoming African Union Summit, to take place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea from June 26-27, 2014.

Read the original article on UNECA.

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