Equatorial Guinea will host the AfDB‘s 54th Annual Meeting. The event will be held between 11 and 14 June 2019, under the theme Regional integration for Africa’s economic prosperity. “When you put your forces together, you can achieve the critical mass to be solid player on the global scene,” justifies Celestin Monga, AfDB’s Chief Economist and Vice President of Economic Governance & Knowledge Management.
The Meetings will bring together about 2000 delegates. They will dialogue about critical issues concerning Africa’s development.
Delegates will include representatives from governments, business, civil society, think tanks, universities and the media worldwide.
For the Secretary-General of the Bank, Vincent Nmehielle, the meetings are an opportunity to show why regional integration is important. “Equatorial Guinea is one of the most developed countries in Africa, but not many people know that,” he adds.
The meetings will include statutory sittings of the Governors and shareholders of the Bank, and a series of knowledge events, including discussions around the Africa Economic Outlook, one of the Bank’s flagship reports. A High-Level Presidential Dialogue on Boosting Africa’s Economic Integration will provide Heads of States an opportunity to discuss challenges and corrective measures to fast track Regional Integration.
“Equatorial Guinea is one of the most developed countries in Africa, but not many people know that”
“Trade is and will remain the main engine of growth for many of our countries. More than 60% of global trade now occurs in global value chains. We need to see that African economies are getting into global value chains, not just to process unprocessed raw commodities but transform goods creating value additions, creation jobs locally,” notes Celestin Monga.
“Regional integration is part of our core mandate and our DNA. It has been since inception in 1964”, concludes Vice-president, Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, Pierre Guislain.