Abidjan, July 1, 2021 –The 2021 Annual General Assembly Meetings of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI were successfully concluded on the theme “Achieving the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): what roles and opportunities for national DFIs?”. The events which were held virtually were co-organized with the African Development Bank (AfDB) from June 29 to 30, 2021.

2021 AADFI-AfDB Annual Workshop

The meetings started with the Annual Workshop, which was attended by more than 100 delegates from across the globe. The webinar raised awareness of the AfCFTA and the business opportunities it offered in its implementation. The program also strengthened partnerships in promoting cross-border projects that would support the AfCFTA.

Mr. Thabo Thamane, Chairman of AADFI & CEO of Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), Botswana, in his opening statement, acknowledged that: “the AfCFTA has the potential to hugely impact the activities of SMEs, which presently account for 80% of the continent’s business activities, as well as, industrial and manufacturing activities. As such, DFIs have a role to play in mobilizing resources and facilitating projects that actualize the objectives of the AfCFTA.”

Mr. Solomon Quaynor, Vice-President of the Private Sector, Infrastructure, and Industrialization Complex of the AfDB, presented a Keynote Address on how AfDB supports the implementation of the agenda of the AfCFTA. He highlighted that: “the successful implementation of the AfCFTA would require that all parties, governments, regional economic communities, private sector, DFIs, and Multilateral Development Banks, play their respective roles.” The vice president indicated that the AfDB has been at the core of the implementation of the AfCFTA, and supported his assertion by highlighting the Bank’s projects and activities that focused on supporting the AfCFTA.

Other key speakers and panelists at the webinar were Dr.Obiora Madu, Chief Executive Officer of African Center for Supply Chain (ACSC), Mr. Patrick Dlamini, Honorary Chairman of AADFI and CEO of Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Ms. Catherine Kimaryo, Chief Strategy Advisor, Trade and Development Bank (TD Bank); M. Abdelouahb Boushaba, CEO, Tamwil El Fellah (TEF)/ Group Credit Agricole Maroc (GCAM); Mr. Gainmore Zanamwe, Senior Manager, Intra-African Trade Initiative, African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim); and West Africa Development Bank (BOAD).

The key conclusions from the webinar are as follows:

1. The AfCFTA offers massive hopes for Africa. It was acknowledged that the AfCFTA will help create massive job opportunities and significantly contribute to addressing the social and economic challenges of the continent. The AfCFTA creates huge opportunities for the development of various sectors, including SMEs, trade facilitation, manufacturing and industrialization, transport and logistics, and infrastructure, among others.
2. DFIs have a critical role to play in actualizing the AfCFTA. As a result, national, regional, and multilateral DFIs should work together and complement each other by building collaboration through cooperation and partnership in facilitating knowledge,  mobilizing capital, and project funding.
3. The AADFIas the continental organization for African development finance institutions is called upon to:
   • sustain efforts in raising the awareness among African national and regional DFIs on the need to collaborate to significantly contribute to the implementation of the AfCFTA, including raising and deploying resources for projects that support AfCFTA ;
   • organize a series of focused discussions for African national and regional DFIs to strengthen their knowledge and capacities on the peculiar issues on the implementation of the AfCFTA; and
   • engage more with governments and international partners for support to its members and also partnerships in their efforts to contribute to the AfCFTA’s agenda.
4. There is a need for national DFIs to scale up their capacity to play the expected role. These include raising their capital base and ensuring access to sustainable funding, in addition to strengthening their governance.
5. Achieving the AfCFTA is desired for Africa to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Under the current pandemic, Africa needs to have a minimum of security to face its urgent needs. In so doing, there is a need to promote the creation of blockchains through the development of sectors like transport and manufacturing, including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and technology.

47^th AADFI Ordinary General Assembly

The Annual Workshop preceded the meeting of the 47^th Ordinary General Assembly (OGA) of the Association, which was held on June 30, 2021. The General Assembly provided the opportunity to its members to review the activities of the Association and discuss issues concerning DFIs’ participation in promoting socio-economic development on the continent.

The meeting was declared open by Mr. Stefan Nalletamby, Director of the Financial Sector Development Department, representing the President of the African Development Bank. Mr. Remy Rioux, Chief Executive Officer of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Chairman of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), also addressed the Assembly. His address focused on the partnership and efforts directed at supporting the African countries in achieving the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, which would also positively influence the achievement of the AfCFTA.

The key highlight of the 47^th OGA was the reconstitution of the Board of Directors of the AADFI, with the reelection of Mr. Thabo Thamane, Chief Executive Officer of Citizen Entrepreneurial Agency (CEDA) as Chairman, and Patricia Ojangole, Managing Director of Uganda Development Bank Ltd. (UDBL),  as the first Vice-Chairperson of AADFI.

Other Regional Representatives elected at the meeting were:

For more information on the AADFI, please visit www.adfi-ci.org.