World Bank, AfDB Announce $55b Investment in Africa 2

World Bank, AfDB Announce $55b Investment in Africa

Leadership (Abuja)
NEWS
1 November 2007
Posted to the web 1 November 2007

By Betrand Nwankwo
Abuja
The Connect Africa Summit ended yesterday in Rwanda with World Bank, European Commission and African Development Bank (AfDB) announcing investment commitments amounting to over $55 billion, with the information and communication technology (ICT) sector taking the lead.

The summit decided to bring forward ICT connectivity goals to 2012 to enable the achievement of the broader Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

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Commitments were made to interconnect all African capitals and major cities with ICT broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012. By 2015, broadband and ICT services will be extended to all African villages. The summit also sets out to meet the World Summit on the Information Society goals for capacity building, establishing an enabling environment for investment and e-government services.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the summit, the European Commission announced support for trans-African networks that facilitate interconnectivity. An EU Trust Fund for Africa of almost 100 million Euros in grants and some 260 million Euros for loans has been established along with the European Investment Bank and ten EU member states for the period 2007-2008.

The fund, which will be substantially replenished at the end of 2008, will finance cross-border projects or national projects with a regional and continental impact that would include ICT. The information, which was communicated to LEADERSHIP disclosed that the commission has equally announced another contribution of six million Euros to support ITU’s regulatory reform initiatives in Africa.

The World Bank Group that promised to double its commitment to ICT in Africa to $2 billion by 2012 from its current investment programme of $1 billion over the last five years. The financing will continue to promote private sector participation.

The African Development Bank (AfDB), LEADERSHIP also gathered, has scaled up its investments in infrastructure and expects to invest 60 per cent of its concessional resources on infrastructure, including ICT, in the next three years. AfDB has committed close to $65 million to two key regional infrastructure projects: RASCOM and EASSy.

The president of AfDB, Dr Donald Kaberuka, said the development banks and other financing partners agreed to step in where gaps are holding back development in the region.

Commenting, the secretary-general of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Dr Hamadoun Toure, said Africa is open for business.

“We are looking for investment through win-win partnerships in a viable marketplace by an expanding ICT industry,” he said.

Toure added that wealth creation is key to achieving the MDGs, stating, “this new investment in ICT infrastructure will lead to new jobs and overall economic growth”.

The representative of the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, Mr Sha Zukang, under-secretary-general of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that innovative ways were needed to extend the reach of ICT to the most remote corners of the continent.

His words: “I am confident that with the entrepreneurial spirit of the African private sector working with their international partners, the support of the international community and the commitment from governments, universal connectivity in Africa is no longer a utopian dream.”

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda stated that investment and trade – as opposed to aid and charity – must drive the transformation of African economies. He therefore called for a dynamic ICT sector to connect Africa to the global information superhighway.

“In order to realise this much-needed economic revolution, we have to forge productive relationships between government and business,” the Rwandan leader stressed.

Over one thousand participants, including six heads of state, took part in the Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, from 29 to 30 October 2007.