During a on a 48-hour working visit to Côte d'Ivoire, the French Minister of the Minister of the Environment, Energy and the Sea, Ségolène Royal, met with Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, on Friday, February 26 at the Bank's headquarters in Abidjan. They discussed cooperation between the pan-African financial institution and her country, France.
The visit of the French Minister, who has just taken on the role of presidency of COP21 and who is conducting a tour of Africa, also coincides with preparations for the first meeting for the 14th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF), ADF-14, to be held on March 17 and 18 in Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire.
Discussions between Adesina and his guest were around implementation of the commitments made at COP21.
"I am pleased that the opinion of Africans was taken into account at COP21," said Adesina. "We must now put this ambitious initiative, the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), into action."
Royal stressed that her African tour was crucial for quickening the pace of the COP21 project and AREI. "France is listening to the AfDB." The Minister said that it was crucial to put the financial engineering in place that is needed to rapidly and concretely translate what was said at COP21 into action.
France is a key partner for the AfDB. It is the fourth-biggest contributor to ADF-13, with a subscription equal to €420 million (a 5% increase in comparison with ADF-12). What is more, France, through the French Development Agency (AFD), signed a co-financing agreement with the AfDB in November 2015. This agreement aims to mobilise €1.5 billion over 3 years, and is set to be a powerful lever for increasing the development of access to energy and fighting climate change.
