The 54th meeting of the Boards of Governors of the African Development Bank will take place in the Equatoguinean city of Malabo from June 11 to 14 this year.
A statement from the AfDB on Friday also confirmed that the 45th annual meeting of the African Development Fund, the concessional arm of the Bank Group, is also scheduled in the same city during this period.
The annual meetings are the Bank’s largest event and will bring together about 3000 delegates and participants.
The meetings provide a platform for government officials, captains of industry, civil society activists, think tanks, academia and the media worldwide, to dialogue on key issues concerning Africa’s development.
According to the organisers, this year’s calendar of events includes a high-level presidential dialogue on the topic: “Boosting Africa’s Economic Integration”.
There will also be a special presentation of the AfDB’s flagship African Economic Outlook publication for 2019, released in January.
The theme of this year’s annual meetings is “Regional Integration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity” which is one of the bank’s five strategic priorities.
With 1 billion people, Africa has a combined GDP of more than $3.4 trillion.
The AfDB believes that such a market could create huge opportunities for producers on the continent, but to make it a reality, African governments and regional economic communities must intensify efforts to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, people and trade across borders.
Governors of the AfDB are from the 54 African regional member countries and 27 non-regional member states.
WN/as/APA