THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Speaking at the 60th anniversary celebration of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group in Abidjan on 10 September, its President, Akinwumi Adesina, praised the bank’s achievements, calling it a day of joy. Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d’Ivoire, hosts the bank’s headquarters.
Since its founding in 1964, the bank had supported over 6,500 projects across Africa, he said. In the last decade alone, it invested $77 billion in 3,000 projects, becoming a leading development partner for the continent, the Nigerian-born agricultural economist added.
Adesina thanked President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire for hosting the AfDB’s headquarters and for his role in securing a $115 billion capital increase in 2019. The bank’s total capital reached $318 billion this year, enabling greater support for Africa’s development.
Since 2015, Adesina’s leadership has focused on the High 5s strategy: powering, feeding, industrializing, integrating and improving quality of life in Africa. Over $55 billion has been allocated to infrastructure projects, making the bank Africa’s largest multilateral infrastructure financier.
Adesina, a former Nigerian minister of agriculture, highlighted the bank’s achievements, including increasing access to electricity from 25% to 52% across Africa since 2016 and the $20 billion Desert-to-Power project, which will bring 10,000 megawatts of electricity to 250 million people in 11 Sahel countries. Additionally, the bank mobilized $72 billion to unlock agricultural potential and $39 billion for climate resilience efforts.
“This anniversary is a call to action,” Adesina concluded, urging continued efforts to build the Africa envisioned by the bank’s founders.
Speaking earlier at the ceremony, President Ouattara described the celebrations as a historic milestone, pointing out that the ban had “financed some pivotal infrastructure and helped improve the living conditions of millions of Africans”.
However, the Ivorien leader added that there was still plenty of work to do.
The AfDB marked its 60th anniversary with several activities from on 9-10 September in Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d’Ivoire.
Themed “60 Years of Making a Difference,” the diamond jubilee celebration showcased the bank’s journey since its establishment on 10 September 1964 and its vision for the continent’s future.
Adira Kallo
About AfDB
Meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, in September 1964, representatives of 25 African countries agreed on the vision of a Bank that could drive economic development across Africa by mobilising additional capital. This led to the creation of the African Development Bank (the Bank), with its leading objective clearly spelled out; ‘To Promote Sustainable Economic Growth and Reduce Poverty in Africa’. In pursuing this resolve, the Bank has focused on projects spanning reliable electric power, clean drinking water, healthcare, education, transport and other critical sectors. (Source: AfDB)
About AfDB’s President
Dr Akinwumi Adesina, a globally renowned development economist and World Food Prize Laureate, is the African Development Bank Group president, having been unanimously re-elected for a second five-year term in September 2020. First elected in September 2015 as the Bank Group’s eighth president, Adesina, launched a bold agenda known as 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. (Source: AfDB)
