12-Jan-2010 - The African Development Bank just published, in the first 2010 edition of the Journal of Globalization and Development, an important article titled “Africa: Africa’s Counter-Cyclical Policy Responses to the Crisis”.
The article is signed by Louis Kasekende, Chief Economist, Leone Ndikumana, Director, Research Department and Zuzana Brixiova, Principal Research Economist.
12-Jan-2010 - Addressing economists of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group on Monday, 11 January 2010, in Tunis within the framework of the AfDB Eminent Speakers Program, Nobel Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, said that development banks still had a greater role to play in development efforts on the continent.
11-Jan-2010 - Theories advocating deregulation and opening markets have shown their ineffectiveness.
The crisis clearly demonstrates that the state has a role to play, even if that role should depend on places and circumstances.
The current crisis promises to be longer than expected; without fundamental changes in the international financial architecture, another crisis is looming.
Africa must make its voice heard and make sure it is represented in international forums.
21-Dec-2009 - The African Development Bank Board of Directors has recently approved the institution’s administrative budget for 2010 while reaffirming the relevance of AfDB 2008-2012 Medium Term Strategy.
16-Dec-2009 - In speeches delivered on 16 December 2009 in Copenhagen, African leaders have called for an increased presence of the AfDB in Africa on climate change. These leaders, including Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize and Co-Chair of the Congo Basin Forest Fund, wish that African leading institutions, such as the AfDB, plays a central role.
16-Dec-2009 - While in Copenhagen where he was leading the AfDB delegation to the UN climate summit, Bank Group President, Donald Kaberuka, addressed African negotiators during a plenary session.
Mr. Kaberuka was in Copenhagen “first and foremost to encourage African participants.” The AfDB is strongly supporting the negotiators and the strategy adopted by African leaders and their “lead negotiator”, Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi.
11-Dec-2009 - Although the Bank has an observer status at the UNFCCC and cannot be involved in the negotiations, it is visibly participating at Conference of Parties (COP 15).
The Bank is taking the following key messages to the COP:
11-Dec-2009 - On Monday 14 December 2009, the AfDB held two major events in Copenhagen, on the sidelines of the climate change conference (7-18 December 2009).
The day commenced with the Bank Group President, Donald Kaberuka, having a luncheon with the press. Mr. Kaberuka presented his expectations of the Copenhagen conference during the luncheon. He presented, in particular, the Bank’s vision regarding climate change, adding that the issue of climate change could not be dissociated from development challenges. He recalled Bank assistance to Africa’s...
11-Dec-2009 - The African Development Bank (AfDB) will, on December 11, 2009, in Tunis host a pledging conference for the third phase of the “Africa Regional Technical Assistance Centers (AFRITACs) Initiative. The AFRITACs Initiative, launched in 2002 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is part of international efforts to provide technical assistance and strengthen institutional capacity in African countries in the area of economic and financial governance.
07-Dec-2009 - Bank Group President, Donald Kaberuka, on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, in Tunis received a World Conservation Union (IUCN) delegation, led by its Director General, Julia Marton-Lefevre. Discussions focused on issues of common interest, including potentials for healthy environment and resources management, as well as biodiversity conservation in Africa. The meeting also sought to identify cooperation areas and discussed capacity building issues.
07-Dec-2009 - The risks posed by climate change in Africa do not respect political boundaries as they are common to the entire continent. There is no single part of Africa that is spared its deleterious impacts. This threat has therefore served as a rallying point for all African leaders to seek a common solution to the problem.
01-Dec-2009 - The Bank in collaboration with AME Trade is organizing a two day Public Private Partnership Africa (PPP Africa) Conference at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Tunis, from 1 - 2 December 2009.
30-Nov-2009 - Tunis, Tunisia, 25 November 2009 – The African Development Bank will on 28 and 29 November in Tunis host a forum of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), which will discuss the global financial crisis and African regional integration.
The CoDA Board meeting will be held on 29 November 2009 and will be preceded on 28 November by a multi-stakeholder forum on Africa’s reaction to the financial crisis. The gathering brings together the CoDA, Board, academics, representatives of private and public sector, civil society and the African...
30-Nov-2009 - Tunis, 29 November 2009 – The global financial crisis which is making a huge negative impact on Africa’s economy provides a rare opportunity for the continent to redefine its development paradigm.
This is the central message of a day-long multi-stakeholder forum on Africa and the global financial crisis which opened in Tunis on Saturday, under the auspices of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), chaired by Botswana’s former President, Festus Mogae.
20-Nov-2009 - « Pourquoi fait-on si peu dans un domaine aussi vital que l’agriculture ? » s’est demandé le président de la BAD, M. Donald Kaberuka, en ouvrant le 20 novembre 2009 la réunion de haut niveau pour renforcer la coopération entre le groupe de la BAD et le Fonds international de développement agricole (FIDA). « Il nous faut faire une évaluation conjointe sans complaisance pour donner un signal fort à la communauté internationale. Mes points de vue sur l’importance de l’agriculture n’ont pas changé.
20-Nov-2009 - “If agriculture is so important in Africa, why is so little being done about it?” This brainteaser from the African Development Bank Group President, Donald Kaberuka, set the tone for an AfDB-IFAD High Level Partnership Meeting which is reviewing a Joint Evaluation of Agricultural and Rural Development in Africa, held on Friday 20 November 2009 in Tunis.
18-Nov-2009 - Tunis, 17 November 2009 – A High-Level Forum on Public Procurement Reforms concluded deliberations on Tuesday 17 November 2009 in Tunis, with the adoption of the “Tunis Declaration on Public Procurement Reforms in Africa”. The Declaration affirms Africa’s priorities with regard to procurement reforms in the coming years.
17-Nov-2009 - On 16-17 November 2009, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is hosting in Tunis the high-level forum on public procurement reforms in Africa. The forum is an opportunity for African governments (and the IFIs) to discuss and agree on the process that will emphasize African priorities regarding the use of procurement systems in African countries as a mandatory means for medium- and long-term development policy. To facilitate the use of national procurement systems and conform to the AAA requirement, the AfDB is finalizing a new strategy in this...
13-Nov-2009 - Addis Ababa, 13 November 2009 – The timely and innovative actions taken by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) actually helped to minimize the damage caused by the glbal economic and financial crisis on Africa economies, the AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka has said.
13-Nov-2009 - Many African countries began implementing economic reform and liberalizing their economies in the 1980s in order to promote industrial and economic development.
Economists and policy makers believe that economic reform and exposure to international competition would spur African enterprises to become more efficient, enhance their productivity and enable them to achieve international competitiveness.