NEPAD at the G20 Africa Partnership Conference: Investing in a Common Future
Berlin, June 12, 2017 – Many African countries are already important political and economic partners of G20 members. To renew efforts of cooperation and enhance sustainable economic development the German Presidency organised a conference on the G20 Africa Partnership. The G20 initiative aims to support a reliable financial framework in order to increase investment opportunities, push for a more sustainable infrastructure as well as create jobs and employment in African countries and thereby contribute to the AU Agenda 2063.
In Berlin, the NEPAD Agency held a meeting of the 3rd Co-chairs and Friends of the Africa Global Partnership Platform (AGPP) where issues related to the advancement of the partnership between Africa and its development partners were discussed. The AGPP meeting also discussed the “Compact with Africa”- a framework that focuses on channelling investments into Africa’s infrastructure development. In attendance were NEPAD Steering Committee members from Algeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Senegal, Guinea, South Africa, Commissioner for Economic Affairs from the African Union Commission, as well as high representatives from Germany, Canada, Italy, Australia, China, and Japan. Also in attendance were UNECA, UNOSAA, IMF, World Bank, AfDB and OEDAF.
Following the formal opening of the G20 Africa Partnership Conference on the afternoon of June 12 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the NEPAD Agency CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki addressed a closed working dinner of G20 Ministers of Finance and their Africa counterparts on the Compact with Africa.
On the second day of the Conference, Dr Mayaki participated as a panellist in the session on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET): ‘An investment in skills: an investment in growth – Promoting economic growth and employment through work-based technical and vocational education and training’ at the G20 Africa Partnership Conference, themed Investing in a Common Future.
The CEO highlighted the work of NEPAD Agency in this domain and his concluding message was that, “TVET is a beautiful endeavour and very useful, but it needs to grow in a terrain that is well natured and built.”