The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Akinwumi Adesina, will visit Mozambique and Malawi on April 4-5, 2016. While in Malawi, he will hold high-level discussions with Malawi President Peter Mutharika.
A Nigerian national, Adesina is the 8th elected President of the AfDB Group. He is a distinguished economist and agriculture expert and has been at the centre of agriculture transformation in Nigeria where he served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2010 to 2015. He was previously Vice-President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). He was also Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, where he worked in senior leadership positions, including as Regional Office Director and Representative for Southern Africa.
Since assuming office as AfDB President in September 2015, Adesina has spearheaded actions by the Bank to drive inclusive and green growth for Africa, in areas of high-impact, building strategic partnerships and mobilizing resources to scale up initiatives and operations on the continent. He has sharply focused the Bank's work on five top priorities for Africa, or the High 5s: Light up and power Africa; Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.
The President's visit comes a few weeks after a group of nine AfDB Executive Directors visited Malawi from March 6-11, 2016. The visit by the President is seen as consolidating the long-standing partnership between the African Development Bank Group and Malawi.