ICA To Meet 10-11 March To Debate Global Crisis, Infrastructure Development in Africa
4/03/2009
The impact of the global credit crunch on the development of infrastructure in Africa is to top the agenda at a forthcoming meeting of the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA) which the Italian G8 presidency will be hosting at the Foreign Ministry, or Farnesina, on 10 and 11 March.
The ICA, a partnership between the G8 member countries, the African Union and the African Development Bank, was set up under the British presidency in 2005. Its aim is to promote solutions to the problem of underdeveloped infrastructure in Africa. This underdevelopment is penalising economic development in a continent that suffers from a chronic shortage of water, electricity, transportation and ICT connectivity, which the market has been unable to fund due not only to problems of governance but also to the global financial system's own shortcomings.
The ICA meeting will be opened by African Union Infrastructures Commissioner Alham Mahmud Ahmad Ibrahim, by African Development Bank Deputy Chairman Mandala Gantsho, by Italian Foreign Undersecretary Vincenzo Scotti and by Luca Riccardi, the Italian prime minister's special representative for Africa. The meeting will also be attended by the other G8 member countries, by the European Union and by certain "Outreach Countries" such as China, as well as by representatives of the major African banks and financial agencies, the World Bank and the other international financial institutions.
Italy's Development Cooperation Department will be organising a debate on the issue of risk mitigation to facilitate the attraction of private capital, as part of the solution to the "non-bankability" of many African countries which have trouble getting access to credit. Taking part in the debate will be the African countries, those with governance responsibilities, both international and local risk insurance institutes, donors and financial backers.
In an attempt to offer support to African countries in the infrastructure sector, Italy's Development Cooperation Department will be announcing a pilot initiative for which it plans to earmark some €2.5 million, via the African Development Bank, to facilitate the funding of public-private sector partnership for infrastructure projects through risk assessment and mitigation.
