Sidi Ould Tah calls for increased UN funding for Africa's development

African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President Sidi Ould Tah addressed the 80th United Nations General Assembly, calling for increased financing and strong partnerships to achieve Africa's development goals. In his speech, he highlighted the continent's resilience in the face of current challenges and the importance of a new African financial system.

At the heart of his speech, Mr. Ould Tah highlighted several priorities, including:

• Development Finance : Mobilizing resources to support development projects.
• Climate change : Integrating climate issues into development strategies.
• African Financial Architecture : Reforming Financial Systems to Better Meet the Continent's Needs.
• Job creation : Transforming population growth into an economic driver, especially for women and young people.

As a speaker at side events, he outlined his strategic vision based on these four cardinal points.

Sidi Ould Tah met with several world leaders, including Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. During this meeting, he emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation between the AfDB and the UN, leveraging the complementarities of each institution.

Along with UNFPA Executive Director Diene Keita, he emphasized the importance of maternal health as part of his development vision. “Investing in mothers and girls today is essential to transforming Africa’s demographics into a demographic dividend,” he said.

The AfDB President also met with Duma Gideon Boko, President of Botswana. Discussions focused on diversifying the country's economy beyond diamonds and the importance of investing in infrastructure, particularly the rail interconnection. Mr. Ould Tah emphasized that developing natural resources could be a crucial lever for creating jobs for African youth.

In a meeting with Sheikh Shakhboot Nahyan Al Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, the latter reaffirmed his government's support for the Bank's mission, thus strengthening relations between the two entities.

On Wednesday, Mr. Ould Tah will participate in the launch of the new National Energy Agreements, as part of Mission 300, a joint initiative of the World Bank and the AfDB aimed at providing electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030.

The seventeenth replenishment of the African Development Fund, the AfDB's concessional window, is scheduled for December. Ould Tah confirmed that several African countries have pledged to support this fund, which is essential for 37 low-income African countries, in a global context marked by declining development aid.

Djami