On the margins of the Climate Summit in New York, the Japanese government convened the second roundtable with African Regional Economic Communities (RECs), chaired by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to underline the importance of regional infrastructure as an essential requisite to Africa’s growth.

Participants included, Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Chairman of Intergovernmental Authority on Development Hailemariam Desalegn, President of Ghana and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States John Dramani Mahama, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission Erastus Mwencha, as well as the Chief Executive Officers of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community.

Partnering with RECs and with the Programme for Infrastructure Development for Africa (PIDA) is important in the move toward a transnational approach for infrastructure development. Shinzo Abe insisted that, “RECs are the cornerstone for regional integration. Let’s work on strengthening the cooperation between Japan and the economic communities in Africa.”

 

Lack of infrastructure a major bottleneck

The representatives of the RECs agreed that the lack of infrastructure is a major bottleneck for trade and investment and called for more financing on the continent, especially with Public Private Partnerships.

With more than two-third of its operations in infrastructure, the African Development Bank (AfDB) was mentioned as the key player in this sector with the new Africa50 infrastructure fund.

Speaking on behalf of the EAC, Michel Kamau, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure in Kenya, specifically welcomed the operationalisation of this fund. He was supported by the Chad representative, speaking for the Central African States, and by the President of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.