The African Development Bank on Friday concluded its Annual Meetings, amid growing consensus that regional integration is imperative to a new phase in African prosperity. Around 2,000 delegates gathered in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to discuss ways to fast-track regional integration after the milestone African Continental Free Area (AfCFTA) was endorsed earlier this year.

A pilot project, underway in Tunisia, is designed to reduce food imports. Drone technology is being used to collect and analyse data, and monitor irrigated areas, combat pests. The Bank launched the project, in cooperation with the Busan Metropolitan City in Korea with support from the Korea-Africa Cooperation fund (KOAFEC).

“The day we see an Egyptian farming in Sudan, growing wheat, rather than Egypt getting its wheat from Ukraine, Russia - this is regional integration. The day we see a Sierra Leonean mining his diamond and selling that diamond for the $10,000 that it deserves, not just rough stones but cut and polished, with added value; this is a different Africa”.

According to N'sele, a number of African countries could save as much $1 billion on a 20-year loan, if they borrow from the African Development Bank, instead of from the Eurobond market, due to preferable lending rates. Delegates were informed of the Bank’s successful issuance of the first-ever NOK social bond sold in Norway and sealed in 2018.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Government of the Swiss Confederation (SECO) and the African Development Bank on Thursday signed two agreements to fund African initiatives on the sidelines of the Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings. SECO contributed 3 million Swiss francs to the Entrepreneurship Lab (E-Lab) for innovative young entrepreneurs and 200,000 Swiss francs to the Urban & Municipal Development Fund for Africa (UMDF), which helps African cities plan and manage urban growth and climate-resilient development by improving governance and basic services.

The African Development Bank and the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA), a multi-donor trust fund financed by the Governments of Japan and Austria, today launched the African Agri-Business Engine (AABE) in Malabo.  FAPA provides grants for technical assistance activities in Africa, and is one of the components of the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance (EPSA) initiative hosted at the African Development Bank.

The African Development Bank and its partners on Wednesday launched the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI), designed to aid safety and expansion of digital financial transactions in Africa. The Fund, launched at the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Government of Luxembourg, as initial contributors.

Leaders from four African countries on Wednesday shared their vision for an integrated and borderless Africa that would foster economic growth and development. The leaders spoke during a high-level presidential dialogue on day two of the African Development Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings.

African leaders on Wednesday underscored the urgent need to fast-track the continent’s regional integration process in order to accelerate Africa’s economic transformation. The call was made at the opening ceremony of the Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, with the theme: “Regional Integration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity.”

“We need you African bankers and African financial institutions to be actors of this regional development, to invest across borders, to finance trade and investments and make regional integration a reality,” Bank Vice President for the Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, Pierre Guislain said at this year’s African Banker Awards in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.