Johannesburg, South Africa – 13 November 2019: H.E. Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy has just concluded a successful participation at the 2019 Africa Investment Forum that ran from 11 to 12 November in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Africa Investment Forum is an innovative, multi-stakeholder transactional Forum organized by the African Development Bank the Republic of South Africa with the aim of raising funds, advancing projects to the bankable stage and accelerating financial closure of deals.

“Africa’s infrastructure needs currently amount to around $130 to $170 billion per year. This presents a huge opportunity to African investors to foster innovative financial solutions and partnerships that have the potential to change the quality of life of millions of Africans” said Dr Abou-Zeid

H.E. Commissioner highlighted the need to embrace new innovative types of funding, to boost public and private investment in the Continent, and to showcase the opportunities of investment and success stories in the region.

“Various experiences in several countries, notably in the energy and telecommunications sectors, show private sector finance is available for projects that present conducive political, regulatory and legislative environments” added Commissioner Abou-Zeid

H.E. Commissioner spoke at the “Africa50’s Innovation Challenge Advisory Board” session and presented the ongoing efforts lead by AUC to develop a Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa aimed at helping African countries to use ICT to transform delivery of basic services, drive innovation and improve competitiveness.

"Increasing overall investment into ICT is crucial and very opportune to reduce poverty, boost economic growth and improve governance. The AUC’s new strategy will help our countries take advantage of the opportunities that ICT offers across all sectors of the economy, drawing on our unique expertise in public-private partnerships in the ICT sector.” highlighted Dr Abou-Zeid

Mr Alain Ebobissé, CEO of Africa50 also talked at the opening of the meeting and underscored that "Information and communication technology, one of Africa50’s priority sectors, plays a substantial role in catalyzing economic growth. It has a strong multiplier effect on economies as it drives increased access to information, innovation, and knowledge, at reduced costs. Africa50 decided to run an annual innovation challenge to identify the most promising tech-enabled infrastructure solutions to address key development issues in Africa."

Along with H.E. Neven Mimica, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Commissioner Abou-Zeid also addressed the plenary meeting of the Africa-Europe High-Level Platform for Sustainable Energy Investments (SEI) where she emphasized the recommendations arising from the SEI Platform’s work and underscored the vital position of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) in facilitating political dialogue between Africa and Europe in order to deliver concrete outcomes on the ground.

“Africa's energy transition is well underway. Today's steps to boost energy infrastructure and investment climate in many of our counties are another important move towards making our energy systems across Africa more sustainable, more competitive and more secure". said Dr Abou-Zeid

She went to further explain that “The investment climate in many African countries has been improving as shown by various indices on business and investment environment. African governments have demonstrated commitment by engaging private sector in order to understand their interests and this has resulted in policy, legal and regulatory reforms that have contributed to improvements in the overall business environment.”

"Let us be clear, business as usual and traditional development assistance will not be enough to meet the increasing energy demand and climate emergency. The Africa-Europe alliance set out a comprehensive plan for harnessing the potential of the sustainable energy sector. It does so, by offering a new generation of financial instruments under the EU External Investment Plan." said H.E. Neven Mimica, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development.

During her various interactions with top government representatives, the private sector and heads of financial institutions, H.E. Commissioner advocated for the benefits of priority regional infrastructure, the second phase of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), and the need of leveraging partner institutions with the aim of integrating and interconnecting Africa through regional infrastructure projects in the transport, energy, tourism and ICT sectors.

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@africa-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Media inquiry Contacts:
Sophia Nesri | PIDA Information Analyst | Department of Infrastructure and Energy | African Union Commission I E-mail: sophian@africa-union.org mailto:dic@africa-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Follow us
Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission
Learn more at:
http://www.au.int