The African Development Bank
(AfDB) and the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) on Monday, to step up collaboration to boost Africa’s industrialization,
reports ITRealms.
The duo of Principal Communication Officer at AfDB, Olivia
Ndong Obiang, and Communication Officer, Emeka Anuforo, confirmed this to ITRealms, quoting the African
Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, as saying that the Bank launched
in 2016 its Industrialization Strategy for Africa 2016-2025, which was the
outcome of collaborative work with UNIDO and the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa.
“The signing of the present MoU is key to our Strategy’s
implementation,” he said, stressing that the Bank already benefits enormously
from UNIDO’s expertise in developing policies, programmes and knowledge tools
which supports our member countries to industrialize.”
Additionally, ITRealms
gathered that in 2017, the Bank allocated US $1.2 billion to Industrialize
Africa – one of the Bank’s High 5 development priorities – mostly to projects
for financial sector operations.
The new agreement facilitates the Bank and UNIDO cooperation
on joint activities of shared interest in areas such as agro-industry
development, circular economy, eco-industrial parks, investment in innovation
and technology, enterprise development, trade and capacity-building, and access
to finance, among others. The MoU is in line with objectives set in the Bank’s
High 5 strategy, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the Third Industrial
Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III), the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable
Development, as well as the G20 Initiative on Supporting Industrialization in
Africa.
The Managing Director at UNIDO, Philippe Scholtès, said achieving
Africa’s industrial potential will not happen by chance, but “strong
partnerships such as the one our two organizations have now formalized are key.
This partnership will create significant opportunities and facilitate our work
together towards the operationalization of IDDA III (2016–2025).”
The two entities have already initiated working level
collaboration including within the framework of UNIDO’s flagship Programme for
Country Partnership (PCP) model, which helps synchronize development efforts
and mobilize resources to support countries in accelerating industrialization.
The Bank and UNIDO recently undertook a joint mission to Morocco as part of the
initial development of the PCP and will continue exploring cooperation
opportunities in the ongoing PCPs in Senegal and Ethiopia. Collaboration has
also been initiated for the establishment of staple crop processing zones in a
select number of African countries.
The Memorandum was signed by Adesina and Scholtès in Busan,
Republic of Korea, on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the Boards of
Governors of the African Development Bank Group, held under the theme of
“Accelerating Africa’s industrialization.” The signing ceremony was attended by
African Industry Ministers, representatives of regional Member States,
development partners and private-sector executives.
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