President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attended, on Tuesday morning 23-5-2023, the opening of the annual meetings of the African Development Bank in Sharm El Sheikh.

The annual meetings of the African Development Bank Group comprise statutory meetings of its Governors (finance ministers or central bank governors representing the 81 member countries - and knowledge events.

The 58th Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank and the 49th Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Fund take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from May 22 to 26.

The theme of the 2023 Annual Meetings is "Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa."

The opening was attended by a number of African Heads of State and Government, various regional institutions, in addition to finance ministers, governors of Central Banks, and representatives of the private sectors, academics, and development partners from the African Development Bank Group’s member states.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi posed for a photo op with the annual meetings of the African Development Bank, hosted in Sharm El Sheikh.
The activities started with screening a documentary film on efforts of the African Alliance group to support industries and projects in Africa, in addition to providing services to the continent in times of crises.

The film also shed light on serious problems facing the African continent and means to solve them, as well as efforts to support countries in need of aid.

The Secretary General of the African Development Bank Group, Prof. Vincent O. Nmehielle delivered an opening speech, in which he emphasized the importance of activating the role of the private sector to participate in financing green development in the African continent.

Nmehielle expressed his appreciation for the great efforts made by the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Hassan Abdullah, in leading the preparation of the annual meetings of the African Development Bank Group, expressing his thanks to the Governor of South Sinai, Major General Khaled Fouda, for the facilities and assistance he provided to organize this important event. He also expressed his hope that the deliberations of the meetings would achieve good responses to support the work of the private sector to be a partner in financing green development in the African continent.

Speaking at the annual meetings of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Hassan Abdullah said he hoped that the AfDB meetings will result in crystallizing a clear vision on a future roadmap for mechanisms to deal with all issues and topics for discussion at the level of world countries.

Speaking at the annual meetings of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina expressed his gratitude to President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for his support of the bank's annual meetings.

Adesina said that the large attendance at the AfDB annual meetings in Sharm El Sheikh asserted the good ties between Egypt and the participating countries.

President El-Sisi delivered a speech on the occasion, in which he expressed appreciation for the African Development Bank’s vital role in supporting development issues in the African continent, particularly in light of the growing economic challenges at the international level. The President emphasized that Egypt is continuing its support for efforts toward achieving economic development in the African continent’s countries, at both the regional and international levels.

The opening session also included a high-level presidential dialogue on the structure of the global financial system and the role of multilateral development institutions in mobilizing private sector financing to adapt to climate changes and achieve green growth in the African continent.

Prime Minister Dr. Moustafa Madbouli, participated in the high-level presidential dialogue on the structure of the volatile global financial system as well as the role of multilateral development institutions, held during the annual meetings of the African Development Bank in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The session was attended by the President of the African Development Bank Group (AFDB), the Chairperson of the African Union, the VP of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Prime Ministers of Burundi, Rwanda and Somalia, along with the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change- the President of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28).

At the outset of his speech, Dr. Madbouli welcomed the heads of states and government, heads of international institutions, and governors of central banks in the African continent. He also paid tribute to the President of the African Development Bank Group, and all colleagues in African and regional financial institutions for their support for development projects in the African continent, as well as the great efforts being made to implement many projects on climate change issues and achieve the sustainable development goals in Egypt, as well as at the level of the entire continent.

He said: "Allow me to speak from the heart," as the moderator requested that we speak without planning to read a written speech. I would also like you to allow me to speak on behalf of Africa and talk about reality. When the map of the world was redrawn at the beginning of the last century, Africa was placed in a certain position, represented in being only a location for raw materials and natural resources that enable various developed countries and the rest of the world to implement advanced projects and huge development projects, which have contributed to the growth and prosperity of those countries and their peoples. In contrast, Africa has been seen as a supplier only of raw materials and wealth that has been depleted, without considering or changing the idea that the continent, like the rest of the world's continents, needs great development to serve the size of its population, which now exceeds 1.4 billion people."

He expressed regret that the idea still exists in many literatures, despite the rapid changes taking place in the world, as well as the challenges that the entire world is facing, on top of the African continent.

Dr. Madbouli further said that there is an urgent need to revisit Africa from this old perspective as a source of natural resources and raw materials only, but it can be a very strong partner in achieving the sustainable development goals globally, and contribute to achieving justice in development, and this is the most important issue and problem that Africa continues to face.

The Prime Minister addressed the challenges facing the world, which Africa has not caused, including climate change, geopolitical changes, the Covid-19 crisis and other various successive crises, from which Africa has been affected, and has become suffering from their consequences. On top of that, the continent is paying a high price for these consequences and repercussions, to deal with them, and to work to fill the financing gaps that it suffers from. Therefore, when the continent tries to fill these gaps, it resorts to international institutions that apply very strict standards to them. Thus, we, as African countries, are now in a vicious circle, in terms of financial crises and gaps, which in turn lead to the downgrading of the continent's countries. Hence, the African countries are considered medium or high risks, in terms of guaranteeing financing, which leads to the imposition of severe conditions compared to the rest of the countries and regions of the world, and therefore the continent remains unable to generate growth and development.

Dr. Madbouli pointed out that it is time for the whole world to consider that the continent of Africa needs to have priority during the coming period, or at least within the next one or two decades in all development projects, where the continent needs a huge amount of funding, about $3 trillion over the next ten years, to deal with climate change issues and sustainable development goals, as well as $100 billion annually for infrastructure projects.

Dr. Madbouli also talked about the future role of the African Development Bank in enabling the African countries to secure the necessary financing to carry out development operations, as the African Development Bank is regarded throughout the African continent as a strong arm to advance development in Africa and support the financing of development projects, noting that the Bank cannot finance these development projects alone, with this huge volume of challenges facing the countries of the continent, but it with all its capabilities can play a very important role in achieving partnership with other international financial institutions in coming up with new initiatives and programs that serve development on the continent.

In this context, Dr. Madbouli pointed to the successful model of the African Development Bank to ensure the financing of African countries in securing concessional financing, as happened in the Egyptian model by supporting the issuance of bonds to guarantee Egypt in this regard. It is a very important experience, he said, and the Bank can also enter strongly into initiatives such as what happened in Egypt, where we began to implement the program and platform " NWFE" after the COP27 Climate Change Conference, which focuses on water, food and energy projects, and help the African Development Bank to secure the necessary financing to implement those programs, so it is a successful model that the Bank can replicate through a regional or a continental initiative.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister stressed that the African Development Bank can play a significant role in the coming period to secure its needs for partially concessional financing with the other international institutions, so that it could help these countries implement their priorities of sustainable development projects and help them to resist climate change.

Dr. Madbouli expressed his belief that African countries should realistically consider that their progress and growth will be achieved by relying on each other as much as possible; the more they can achieve sufficiency in promoting trade, industry, agriculture and infrastructure, the more they have the ability to achieve sustainable development to help the international financial institutions, despite the great importance of these institutions.

The Egyptian Prime Minister concluded his speech by stressing the importance of the African countries to ally together in order to achieve the sustainable development goals.

Meetings held on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the African Development Bank Group
President El-Sisi Meets Comoros counterpart, Chairman of African Union
President El-Sisi Meets Prime Minister of Burundi
President El-Sisi Meets President of Republic of Zimbabwe
President El-Sisi Meets the Secretary General of COMESA
President El-Sisi Meets the Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD
President El-Sisi Meets the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC)

PM meets Central African counterpart
Prime Minister Meets Tanzanian VP in AFDB Annual Meetings
PM meets Qatari social development minister