Addis Ababa, May 25, 2023 (FBC) – The Finance Ministerial meeting of the Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI) was held today in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on the sidelines of the African Development Group Annual Meetings.
The meeting was led by Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s Finance Minister, and Ms. Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, the AfDB’s Vice President for regional integration, who was the co-chair and host for the meeting.
Focusing on the role of the private sector in the Horn of Africa, the meeting was convened in the presence of Development Partners; such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, and the European Union.
It is stated that the Ministers reflected on the importance of engaging with private sector actors to attract additional investments for regional projects, especially those that promote green and sustainable development, considering the challenges of debt sustainability and the risk of constrained traditional concessional financing.
“We should strengthen collaborative actions to create an enabling environment for private sector investments in our region. When carefully managed, I believe it would not only boost our economic growth but also contribute to our peace and security,” said Minister Ahmed Shide.
At the meeting, the Ministers of Djibouti and Somalia signed a financing agreement with the African Development Bank to implement a transport corridor project which is key in connecting both countries as well as for regional integration in the Horn of Africa. The project is in its first phase. Minister Ahmed expressed his gratitude to all the development partners who attended the meeting and asked them to provide more support by increasing their commitments to fund the Horn of Africa Initiative’s pipelines.
The Horn of Africa Initiative is a platform for dialogue and cooperation among the HoA countries Ministers of Finance and three Development Partners namely, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, and the European Union.
Attending observers, Germany, the Afreximbank, the Saudi Fund for Development, Islamic Development Bank have appreciated the platform in addressing challenges and harnessing regional opportunities.
The meeting has also endorsed a decision to welcome Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany), as the fourth partner of the Horn of Africa Initiative in addition to the World Bank, African Development Bank, and European Union.