The African Development Bank, AfDB, has urged global authorities and other interested parties to increase funding for projects that would help to lessen the effects of climate change and food insecurity.
The decision was made by the bank during the just concluded UNGA (77th General Assembly) meetings in New York.
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the AfDB Group, headed the bank’s delegation to the meetings and actively participated in the negotiations that resulted in a global agreement to eradicate stunting and malnutrition.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s lingering effects as well as rising food and gasoline prices, he said that the bank’s engagements demonstrated its strategic priorities.
“Africa is hurting, Africa is suffocating, and is in tremendous financial hardship for what it did not cause,” Adesina said, reiterating the need for immediate action. Greater urgency is required, not just in talking but also in acting and providing the resources that the continent so sorely needs.
In order to make economies more productive, he emphasised the necessity to restructure them around energy, infrastructure, and education. He also emphasised the importance of creating sectors that are productive and can make use of human capital.
Adesina also led a bank delegation to sessions at the World Health Organisation (WHO) concurrent with the General Assembly.
According to a statement from the bank, the two organisations decided to collaborate on high-quality health care infrastructure, vaccines, necessary medications, nutrition, and the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation.
Additionally, Adesina met privately with William Ruto, the incoming president of Kenya, with Michael Bloomberg, the philanthropist and billionaire from New York, and with Bill and Hillary Clinton, the former president of the United States.
The governor of the AfDB and Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, also met with Adesina. They talked about strategies for putting an end to hunger before the Global Citizen Festival.