The Senegalese capital of Dakar is hosting Africa Day 2020 with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and UN-Habitat presenting various opportunities for investors, with an aim of increasing levels of investment in the housing and habitat in the continent.
Africa Day gathers participants from Africa, Europe, and others parts of the world to debate the challenges and solutions for the continent in development, digitalization, sustainability, jobs for young people and many other areas. “Cities for people” is the main topic at EIB Africa Day conference.
More than 400 government ministers, business leaders, academics and civil society representatives, as well as mayors from across Africa, are sharing sustainable urban development best practice, confirm new investment across the continent and visit high impact projects financed by the EIB.
High-level speakers, from Africa and Europe, will attend Africa Day 2020 to share their experiences and expertise. EIB President Werner Hoyer, EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle and other high-level speakers will join the President of the Republic of Senegal, Mr. Macky Sall, and UN-Habitat Executive Director, Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, to share their experiences and expertise.
EIB expects to significantly increase engagement in both sub-Saharan and North Africa and to provide €4 billion to support public and private investment across the continent in 2020.
The European Investment Bank has technical and financial teams in nine African cities and has provided more than €45 billion for investment across Africa over more than 57 years.
Already, the bank has committed to finance over €3 billion in new investments in projects across the continent. This series of new financing that will support €10.7 billion of transformational investment across Africa.
Last year, the EIB provided more than €1.8 billion to support private sector investment across Africa, representing 60% of overall engagement on the continent. This included €500 million of new dedicated support for African start-up companies’ engagement in digital, agribusiness, financial inclusion and health services.
New EIB cooperation with African corporate, banking and micro-finance partners is providing specialist financing for smallholder farmers, removing local currency costs holding back investment and helping private companies invest in climate adaptation.
This year’s conference will be dedicated to sustainable urbanization on the African continent, looking at the very rapid growth of African cities and towns. Africa’s population is growing and urbanizing at a very high rate, which brings increasing demands on services and infrastructure for the cities of today and tomorrow. Two-thirds of the urban space that the continent will need by 2050 don’t exist today.
“Africa is a key priority for the European Union and the European Investment Bank. The European Investment Bank is committed to working with African partners to accelerate and expand new investment that delivers sustainable development, tackles the climate emergency, creates jobs and improves lives across Africa,” notes Werner Hoyer, European Investment Bank President
The €3 billion of new investment in Africa supported by the EU bank in 2019 builds on 57 years of engagement across 52 African countries. In recent months, the EIB has launched pioneering new initiatives to accelerate new investment essential to enabling women to fully participate in the economic activity under the pioneering SheInvest programme, to ensure African innovation companies can expand and to combine our financial understanding with philanthropy to tackle malaria.
