Latest news with #Agenda2063
See - Sada Elbalad
3 days ago
- Business
- See - Sada Elbalad
Egypt Welcomes Election of Sidi Ould Tah as African Development Bank President
H-Tayea Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation of Egypt, extended her warm congratulations to H.E. Dr. Sidi Ould Tah on his election as the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group. The election took place during the Bank's Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, marking the beginning of Dr. Ould Tah's five-year term at the helm of Africa's premier development finance institution. The Minister welcomed the appointment, describing it as timely and significant for the continent. 'We wish the AfDB President success in supporting Africa's development journey, which is undergoing a crucial phase,' she stated. Dr. Ould Tah, a seasoned Mauritanian economist with over 35 years of experience in African and international finance, was elected by the Bank's Board of Governors — comprising Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors from the AfDB's 81 regional and non-regional member countries. H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat emphasized that Dr. Ould Tah assumes leadership of the Bank at a time of mounting challenges for Africa, including the ongoing impacts of climate change, global economic volatility, and the growing pressures on multilateralism amid protectionist global trade trends. She expressed full confidence in his ability to steer the Bank forward and contribute to the realization of the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Highlighting his decade-long leadership of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), Dr. Al-Mashat noted the significant achievements under Dr. Ould Tah's tenure. These included quadrupling BADEA's balance sheet, achieving top-tier credit ratings — including an Aa1 rating from Moody's and AAA from Japan's JCR — and advancing strategic development initiatives in food security, energy transition, and infrastructure. The Minister also voiced Egypt's commitment to deepening its partnership with the African Development Bank Group in the coming period. 'We look forward to strengthening cooperation with the AfDB to support our national development priorities and to empower the private sector, especially as we focus on resilience and sustainable growth,' she said. In her remarks, Dr. Al-Mashat extended appreciation to outgoing President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina for his decade of service (2015–2025), during which the AfDB significantly expanded its footprint across Africa, including deepening collaboration with Egypt on infrastructure, energy, and policy support. The African Development Bank Group consists of three entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). The Group comprises 81 member countries, including 54 African regional and 27 non-regional member states. With this new chapter under Dr. Ould Tah's leadership, Egypt reaffirms its commitment to supporting Africa's development vision and enhancing its active role in international financial cooperation frameworks. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks News Shell Unveils Cost-Cutting, LNG Growth Plan
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Sidi Ould Tah elected ninth president of the African Development Bank (AfDB)
Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania has been elected as the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group during the Bank's Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania has been elected as the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB). Tah will assume office on September 1, 2025, succeeding outgoing President Akinwumi Adesina. Tah brings over three decades of leadership in African and international finance and economic development. Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania has been elected as the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group during the Bank's Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. He will take over from outgoing President Akinwumi Adesina, whose second term concludes this year. Tah was chosen by the Bank's Board of Governors, the institution's highest decision-making body, which is composed of finance and economy ministers or central bank governors from the AfDB's 81 member countries, both regional and non-regional. The results were announced by Niale Kaba, Côte d'Ivoire's Minister of Planning and Development and Chairperson of the Board of Governors. The winning candidate is required to obtain at least 50.01% of both the regional and non-regional votes. Tah's over three decades of finance experience Tah, a Mauritanian national, brings over three decades of leadership in African and international finance. He most recently served as president of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), where he led a major institutional transformation between 2015 and 2024. Under his leadership, BADEA's balance sheet quadrupled, the bank achieved a coveted AAA credit rating, and it rose to prominence as one of the top-rated development banks with a focus on Africa. Previously Mauritania's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Tah has held high-level positions in multilateral institutions, where he led crisis response efforts, spearheaded financial reforms, and championed innovative resource mobilization across Africa, including launching BADEA's $1 billion callable capital program to support African multilateral development banks. Tah contested the AfDB presidency alongside four other candidates: Hott Amadou (Senegal), Maimbo Munzele of (Zambia), Tolli Mahamat of (Chad), and Swazi Tshabalala of (South Africa). Tah will officially assume office on 1 September 2025, beginning a five-year term, following the conclusion of current President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina's second mandate. The election of a new president comes at a pivotal moment in the African Development Bank Group's six-decade history. While the continent has shown resilience in the face of climate shocks, economic turbulence, and shifting geopolitical dynamics, it must accelerate progress to avoid lagging on key development priorities, namely, the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are encapsulated in the Bank Group's 'High 5' strategic framework.
Zawya
6 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
2025 Annual Meetings: Africa's Vast Human and Natural Capital Key to Achieving African Union's Agenda 2063, experts affirm
Africa, the world's youngest continent with immeasurable natural resources, has all it needs to achieve the African Union's Agenda 2063, provided the right public policies are implemented, according to government officials and development experts. The experts expressed this shared conviction on Monday during the 2025 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group, taking place in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, under the theme 'Making Africa's Capital Work Better for Africa's Development.' Speaking at a knowledge event titled 'Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan for Agenda 2063: An Opportunity to Develop and Finance Africa's Capital,' Koffi N'Guessan, Ivorian Minister of Vocational Training and Apprenticeships, reaffirmed that Agenda 2063 -- adopted in January 2015 by the African Union – remains the strategic framework for the continent's economic and social transformation. N'Guessan noted that, despite a challenging global environment, the last decade has seen notable progress in Africa, particularly in economic and political integration, gender equality, and access to employment opportunities. However, he acknowledged that previous efforts have often fallen short of addressing the continent's structural transformation needs, including job creation for youth and poverty reduction. 'The second Agenda 2063 implementation plan, adopted in February 2024 by the African Union, offers a crucial opportunity to tackle these challenges and accelerate development outcomes,' he said. According to the Ivorian Minister, Africa is poised to become a major global power, alongside China and India, due to its demographic potential. However, he stressed that African countries should prioritize vocational and technical training to fully harness this demographic dividend. He highlighted a worrying trend: approximately 22.5 percent of young people aged 15 to 24 are unemployed with no education or training. Additionally, 250 million children and young people in low-income countries are not in school, underlining the disconnect between education systems and labor market needs. 'Youth can become a liability if robust training policies are not implemented - from nursery school through to university,' he warned. Taking natural capital into account when calculating GDP Hervé Lohouès, Division Manager in the Country Economics Department at the African Development Bank, emphasized the importance of natural wealth in calculating the GDP of African countries. 'The GDP of a country like the Central African Republic would increase by 300 percent if its natural resources were taken into account in the calculation of its GDP,' he asserted. He added: 'It is essential to go beyond natural enhancement and ensure that all African countries adopt a compulsory development plan. We also need to ensure that governments provide incentives for transformation while considering accountability that can directly help the transition from natural to social infrastructure.' Jide Okeke, Regional Program Coordinator for Africa at the United Nations Development Programme, and Dagmawit Moges Bekele, former Eritrean Minister of Transport and Director of the Peace Fund at the African Union Commission, both stressed the need to leverage human, financial, natural and digital resources to drive inclusive and sustainable development -- key to achieving the objectives outlined in the second decade of Agenda 2063. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Observer
25-05-2025
- Health
- Observer
A plan to end malaria in Africa
Despite being preventable and curable, malaria has continued to claim African lives. In 2023, the continent accounted for around 95 per cent of the 597,000 deaths from malaria worldwide, 76 per cent of which were children under the age of five. But eliminating this scourge, which impedes development goals and realisation of the African Union's Agenda 2063, is within reach. Nine AU member countries – Algeria, Cabo Verde, Egypt, Lesotho, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, the Seychelles and Tunisia – have become malaria-free, owing to sustained political commitment and well-targeted public investment in primary healthcare and disease surveillance and case management. African countries with a higher malaria burden should heed their example. Algeria, for example, invested in effective vector control through indoor residual spraying, universal healthcare access for malaria diagnosis and treatment, and rapid outbreak-response mechanisms. Cabo Verde's strategic malaria-elimination plan involved a multisectoral approach, whereby the government worked closely with local communities and international organisations. Egypt's multipronged strategy included, among other things, robust training programmes for primary health workers. Implementing these coordinated interventions required the political will and, crucially, increased domestic financing. Overall, Africa's efforts to control malaria – particularly through the use of insecticide-treated nets, indoor spraying and seasonal chemoprevention (which involves giving children a monthly course of antimalarial medicines) – have driven a notable decline in malaria deaths on the continent, from 805,000 in 2000 to 569,000 in 2023. (The Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the emergence of partial resistance to the well-established malaria medicine artemisinin, caused a brief uptick, to 598,000, in 2020.) But these gains are fragile, particularly as new mosquito variants emerge, insecticide resistance grows, climate change worsens, humanitarian crises become more frequent, and, perhaps most importantly, the global malaria-funding gap widens. In 2023, only $4 billion was mobilised for malaria elimination, far below the $8.3 billion annual target, and a slight drop from the $4.1 billion raised in 2022. The problem is even more acute in Africa, where external health aid has declined by a whopping 70 per cent between 2021 and 2025. Moreover, most African countries devote less than 10 per cent of their national budgets to the health sector – well below the 15 per cent target set by the 2001 Abuja Declaration. Given the uncertain future of foreign aid, African governments must recognise malaria as a development priority and invest more in efforts to control and eliminate it. That means leveraging untapped resources, including the more than $95 billion in annual remittances from the African diaspora. Innovative financing instruments such as diaspora bonds could support the continent's public-health agenda. Solidarity levies on tobacco, mobile transactions, and airline tickets could also generate billions of dollars for health services. And scaling up national health-insurance schemes will be required to expand access to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Blended finance can unlock private capital for malaria-related research and development, as well as local manufacturing of therapeutics. With Africa's healthcare market projected to be worth $259 billion by 2030, policymakers should capitalise on this opportunity to create effective public-private partnerships, advance last-mile delivery solutions, and improve surveillance and vector control. This would be an investment in Africa's present and future, because every dollar spent on malaria control and elimination generates a remarkable return of $36 in economic growth. A malaria-free population is more likely to access education and contribute to the continent's socioeconomic development. And let me be clear: investing in the fight to end malaria is not only a health and economic imperative; it is an act of justice. The disease disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable Africans, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality. Last year, I joined health ministers from 11 AU member countries with high malaria burdens in committing to accelerate efforts to reduce deaths from the disease. As part of the declaration, we agreed that 'no one should die from malaria given the tools and systems available.' The task now is to take concrete action. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (of which I am Director-General) is ready to help develop a continental strategy for ending malaria in Africa by 2040. By making smart investments, implementing well-targeted policies and deepening collaboration, we can ensure that all African countries become malaria-free within the coming generation. @Project Syndicate, 2025 Jean Kaseya The writer is Director-General of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
eNCA
25-05-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
AU celebrates 62nd anniversary
JOHANNESBURG - It's Africa Day and we are celebrating the 62nd anniversary of the African Union. Its Agenda 2063 aims to transform Africa into a global powerhouse. But first, the continent must meet the goal of silencing the guns by 2030. So, is there hope for an African Renaissance, or will it remain a dream deferred? We discuss this with historian Professor Pitika Ntuli.
