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Annual Meetings ‘Asides’n°01 - MOnday May 22, 2017

“ See agriculture as agribusiness:it’s the best way to create jobs

and make money. Our problem isthat we have viewed African agricul-ture through the wrong lens for toomany years. Agriculture is not a de-velopment activity or a social sector:it’s the biggest money-making busi-ness in the world. It’s not for olderpeople – the average age of our Afri-can farmers is 60 – but it’s for youngpeople. That’s why we have laun-ched the EnABLE Youth programmewith the aim of establishing 10,000youth-run agribusinesses in everycountry in Africa.”

“ We launch partial risk and creditguaranty products designed to

de-risk others’ lending, we have thecapacity to coordinate syndicatedloans, and we negotiate co-financingarrangements, notably with China,Japan and South korea. So we aretruly sweating the balance sheet.”

Occasional quotes, 22/05/17

In thIS ISSue

Sundry images, 22/05/17 p.2Quick conversations, 22/05/17 p3Social Media, 22/05/17 p4

“ThE TIME FOr AFrICA IS nOW – WE CAn’T SLOW DOWn, WE MUST qUICkEn ThE pACE”

AKINWUMI A. ADESINAPRESIDENT

“ A Minister of Agricultureneeds to work hand in hand

with a Minister of Finance anda Minister of Trade and Invest-ment. And yet it’s only Govern-ment’s role to create policy, in-centives and infrastructure –it’s ultimately the private sectorwhich must step up and investalong the length of the agricul-tural value chain, from produ-cing to processing, from farmto fork.”

“ Our non-regional member countriessupport us with development funds,

but more importantly they invest inAfrica for their own good. So Indiacontributed USD 27 million to our Afri-can Development Fund replenishmentlast year … but in 2015 it announced aUSD 10 billion Line of Credit throughthe India Exim Bank over the next fiveyears for Indian companies wishing toinvest in Africa. We have 80 membercountries – yes, we need their re-sources, but we also need to help themincrease their business and investmentopportunities in Africa.”

“ “The African future is not, assome people think, based on oil

and gas: you can’t drink oil or smokegas. The future is food – you can eatfood. Our continent’s food and agri-culture markets will be worth USD 1trillion within 13 years.”

“ “The Bank made a record USD 10.4billion of approvals in 2016, and

USD 6.1 billion of disbursements.These figures are the highest in ourhistory.”

“ So I talk about money, ofcourse, but above all I want

to talk about the impact of thework of this Bank. What mat-ters most to me is not the finan-cial figures, but figures like thefact that in 2016 we estimatethat 3.7 million Africans benefit-ted directly from the Bank’swork to improve water and sani-tation. 3.3 million Africans be-nefitted from our work to im-prove electricity supply; 5.7million from our work to im-prove agricultural yields, 9.3million from our work to providebetter healthcare; and 7.0 mil-lion from our projects to deve-lop better transport systems.That is what this Bank is about –transforming African lives, andtransforming the African conti-nent.”

“ In the spirt of self-determination,the African Development Bank -

and the continent for which it works -is proud to hold these Annual Mee-tings in the birthplace of MahatmaGandhi.” “ India is an inspiration to Africa, in

that its green revolution took just 3years. That was in large measure dueto the power of political will, and youwill see much political will on displayhere at the Bank Group’s Annual Mee-tings in Ahmedabad in the next fewdays.”

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annual MeetIngS ‘aSIdeS’ n°01 MOnday May 22 2017

Sundry images, 22/05/17

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annual MeetIngS ‘aSIdeS’ n°01 MOnday May 22 2017

I ’m here in Ahmedabad because mysubject is social enterprise and the way

it can be scaled up. What is socialenterprise? It’s meeting a social challengewith a commercial solution, and itspossibilities are endless. Africa and Indiado it better than anywhere in the world, soI couldn’t be in a better place. Take anexample like Amul, one of the largest socialenterprises in the world, a farmer/producercooperative which delivers milk in India.Or look at some of the African examples –on Wednesday we’re going to hear fromneelam Chhiber who wants to create ‘a

million women artisans’, with her sights set on East Africa. So this is anexciting opportunity for me.

And the Bank can help with this agenda of social innovation. It has a hugeinfrastructure agenda – and if it can ensure social enterprise elements to eachproject, in education and health and more, then it will be thinking smartly.This is my first visit to a AfDB Annual Meeting, but my 196th conference sincethe start of 2010! Today I have met Bank people, and Governmentrepresentatives from Egypt and Lesotho. I met ex-premier Mahama of Ghana:my Accra associate now needs to follow up. A striking moment of today wasto hear many experts talking about nutrition, and then to hear the Ghanaianminister getting to the point – we will never stop stunted growth if we don’tget protein milk to mothers in pregnancy and the first six months ofbreastfeeding. I’m thrilled to be here.

C es Assemblées annuelles à Ahmedabad enInde, c’est un temps fort pour le

continent africain. Les africains peuvent etdoivent s’inspirer de l’expérience et desméthodes utilisées par ce pays, pouraccélérer la marche du continent vers ledéveloppement. Comme nous le savons tous,il y a quelques décennies, l’Inde était aumême niveau que l’Afrique, mais il s’est forgéà travers son expérience. Cette expérience luia permis de résoudre des questions essentielles liées à son entrée dans lecercle virtuel des nations en développement. L’inde à des problèmescomparables à ceux de l’Afrique : démographie, pauvreté, changement

climatique et autosuffisance alimentaire. Mais de par sa réussite, il constituepour moi, une source d’inspiration dont nous devons profiter pour accéléreret mettre en œuvre les politiques prioritaires dont notre continent a besoinpour sa transformation. Le thème de cette année est salutaire et les expertsdoivent en profiter pour approfondir les débats et sortir des résolutionsconcrètes qui permettront aux africains de bénéficier du retour d’expériencede l’Inde qui a réussi sa révolution verte.

Concernant le Top 5 de la BAD, je dirais que sa réussite dépend aussi de lavolonté politique de nos dirigeants. La BAD doit continuer à mobiliser les

ressources pour réussir ce pari, qui, à mon avis, est noble : nourrir l’Afrique,l’éclairer, l’industrialiser, l’intégrer et améliorer les conditions de vie desAfricains. On ne peut pas trouver mieux.

the Private Sector

David Wilcox, Founder & CEO,Reachscale, Boston, USA

Hichem Ben YaïcheJournaliste, Rédacteur en chef,

IC Publications, Tunisie

J e suis à Ahmedabad, dans lecadre des Assemblées annuelles

de la BAD. Je suis chargé decommunication au départementpCEr. Tout va bien pour le moment.Ceux qui cherchent à nouscontacter au département de laCommunication peuvent venir versla sortie 6 des parkings. nous avons pris nos quartiers non loin desbureaux du président. Avec la charge de travail, je n’ai pas encore eul’occasion de faire une descente dans la ville, mais je suis trèsimpressionné par le gigantisme du centre de conférence. Je suiségalement impressionné par la courtoisie dont les populationsd’Ahmedabad font preuve. Une seule question m’est venue à l’esprit,le premier jour où j’ai visité le centre : A quand, un pareil joyauarchitectural dans mon pays ? pour le moment, j’ai pris des photos queje vais montrer à mes enfants et leur demander de travailler pour fairece que nous autres n’avons pu réaliser. Ca fait maintenant une bonnevingtaine d’années que je couvre les Assemblées annuelles commejournaliste ‘interne’ – j’aime bien écrire, j’aime bien décrire, j’aimebien animer le travail de cette banque.

the african development Bank

Aristide AhouassouCommunication Officer,

African Development Bank,Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

J e suis gouverneur temporaire pour laBelgique, responsable du secteur privé,

dans le cadre de notre entreprise. Je suisnouveau à la Banque, cependant, je latrouve une institution fondamentale pourle développement de ce continent et je suistrès heureux de la voir de plus près, et devoir sa dynamique. Je suis particulièrementheureux de tous les thèmes qui ont étédiscutés dans la journée, entre autres,les questions liées au développement etfinancement du secteur privé et de luttecontre la pauvreté en Afrique.

Il est important qu’une organisation internationale comme la BAD continue de bénéficier de l’appui de ses actionnaires. Mais, avec les questionsbudgétaires, il faut chercher des ressources innovantes, en ces momentsde difficultés budgétaires. Il faut avoir de nouvelles imaginations. Il y a à peuprès une dizaine de Belges à la BAD et un Vice-président, pierre Guislain,chargé du volet industrialisation du Top 5.

Ces Assemblées qui se tiennent en dehors de l’Afrique, démontrent bien quele continent est dans une bonne dynamique avec le reste du monde. Et c’estformidable. La meilleure chose que j’ai vécue dans la journée ? J’ai étéimpressionné de voir le président de la Banque, Akinwumi Adesina, aller deréunion en réunion sans être épuisé. Il était à toutes les rencontres, un signed’engagement et de dynamisme. La pire chose de la journée ? Il a fait unechaleur torride.

the Member governments,regional & non-regional

Christian de LannoyChef de département,

Croissance inclusive, ForeignTrade and Development

Cooperation, Gouverneurtemporaire pour la Belgique

Quick conversations22/05/17

the ‘third sector’ (civil society),the ‘fourth estate’ (press)

M y name is Mukesh Dabhi and I am aliaison officer, working for the

Government of Goujarat, though myeveryday role is as a Manager for theGoujarat Mineral DevelopmentCorporation ltd. In this conference, I amin charge of picking up the Ministers andmanaging their logistics. The Ministercomes from abroad to participate in themeeting in Ahmedabad. To look forpartnerships. And what’s interesting

about this Minister is that he’s not from Africa or India – but nauru!A tiny island in the pacific.

Today, we attended a seminar on agriculture but I did not reallyunderstand what the meeting was about, simply because I don’t speakEnglish well. The minister enjoyed it. For my part, I like the wayAfricans and Indians are working together in these Meetings. I wouldlike to visit Africa one day, particularly South Africa, just to see itsphysical beauty. My son in-law graduated as a medical doctor, agynaecologist, and I would like to explore job possibilities for him inAfrica – he wants to take his expertise to where it’s needed.

From ‘behind the scenes’at the annual Meetings

Mukesh Dabhi

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Produced by the african development Bank group / Pcerwww.afdb.org - info@afdb.org - #afdBaM2017

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annual MeetIngS ‘aSIdeS’ n°01 MOnday May 22 2017t

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tweets of the day,22/05/17#afdBaM2017

@OECD_Centre"When it comes to creating jobsto #African #youth, growth isnot the point: the quality ofgrowth is the key"@mariopezzini #AEO2017

@JDMahamaTomorrow, I'll be speaking on'Agriculture is Cool: EngagingAfrica's Youth' at the@afdbam2017. It's a cool to bea #farmer. @AfDB_Group

@CMOGujGuj CM inaugurated ‘India &Africa : partners in Growth’exhibition at 52nd annualmeeting of @AfDB_Group atMahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar

@narendramodiOn Tuesday, I will be inGandhinagar to participate inthe opening ceremony of themeetings of the @AfDB_Group.#AfDBAM2017

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