Ajay Banga, the US nominee for World Bank Group President, has decided to partner with the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group to deliver transformative results.
The candidate for the World Bank top job began his global tour on Monday, with his first stop in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, where he met Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the AfDB Group, senior management and Board of Directors.
During his visit, Banga spoke about the need for the World Bank Group to develop a strong partnership with the African Development Bank Group. He further highlighted three major issues affecting many parts of the world, which he indicated were of great concern to him.
Inequality, tension between humanity and nature, and the tendency to apply short-term solutions to long-term problems, which only delivers poor results are the three major issues dear to Banga’s heart.
The challenges facing the world, Banga said, got complicated because of the Covid 19 pandemic, environmental degradation, and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine War.
To tackle these global challenges, Banga who also happens to be the former Mastercard CEO, emphasized the role technology has to play, adding that, the private sector also plays a major role in mobilizing much-needed capital resources for significant economic development. This, he said applies to both private sector capital, as well as private sector ingenuity and innovation, which are needed to tackle the many challenges facing the world.
In consequence, Adesina stressed on the need for a new way of working between the World Bank and the African Development Bank, haven stated that Banga’s call for a regenerated partnership resonated with him. Of most serious existential threat to humanity is climate change, Adesina added.
“It is more than financial. It’s more about how we work to optimize resources by engaging governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders to deliver meaningful change. Climate change is decimating lives, displacing people, creating refugees and deepening poverty.”
Adesina
He warned that:
“It is what I call the triangle of disaster. You have increasing poverty, rising youth unemployment and environmental degradation, and this is breeding ground for terrorism.”
Adesina
Adesina called for a global security council on environment and biodiversity, issues which he said were not getting the attention they deserved, compared to other global challenges such as war.
AfDB calls for a new way of measuring the wealth of nations
The African Development Bank Head called for a new way of measuring the wealth of nations instead of basing it on Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This measuring standard, he opined does not factor in important factors like a country’s contribution to carbon emission and impact on biodiversity.
“Globally, there is need for greater responsibility to tackle the impact of climate change, environmental degradation, and protect biodiversity.”
Adesina
Moreover, Adesina underscored the need for increased economic opportunities, particularly in rural areas, where infrastructural investment is crucial. Citing an example of such investments, he said thirty-four heads of state, who recently attended the Dakar 2 Food Summit committed to country food and agriculture delivery compacts, adding that close to 52 billion dollars of intended support to agriculture and food security had been identified from developing partners for the next three-years.
Adesina urged for a similar approach to be adopted in solving the problem of lack of energy in Africa, where more than 600 million people lack access to energy.
Through initiatives like the African Development Bank-led ‘Desert to Power’ initiative, which aims to deliver green electricity to more than 200 million people across eleven countries by using solar capacity, Adesina said Africa’s lack of energy will be resolved.
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