TheCable

After getting the required minimum of 22 signatures from member countries, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) came into force on May 30 — a move that analysts say will accelerate Africa’s integration agenda.

TheCable is attending the annual meetings of the African Development Bank (AFDB) holding in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where there will be discussions on how to help Africa find ways of achieving economic prosperity through economic integration.

The conference, which is themed ‘Regional Integration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity’, holds between June 10 and June 14.

Discussions at the meetings will centre on agriculture, energy, infrastructure, finance and job creation.

Akinwumi Adesina, AFDB president and Nigeria’s former minister of agriculture, will be joined by policymakers, development experts from the bank’s 54 member countries as well as 27 non-regional member countries to work out solutions and agree on ways to achieve integration.

Oluseyi Awojulugbe, TheCable’s senior report, is in Malabo to bring you real-time updates on the deliberations and decisions reached with specifics on how these decisions affect Nigeria and the African continent as a whole.

AFDB annual meetings events

Akinwumi Adesina is expected in be in a series of meetings throughout the week including one with the CEOs of Regional Economic Communities.

Wale Shonibare, AFDB’s vice president, energy, is also expected to sit in on a number of deliberations including one about solving Africa’s power deficit through regional partnerships.

Representatives from Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Coronation Merchant Capital, Standard Bank IBTC, Bank of Industry and Ecobank are also expected to be in attendance as their organisations are nominees in the upcoming African Bankers Award.

There is also a session scheduled for the chief executive officers of development finance institutions (DFIs) which representatives of the Development Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture or the Central Bank of Nigeria might participate in.

A general assembly will also be held for these DFIs.

Follow TheCable and Oluseyi Awojulugbe for up-to-the-minute updates from the meetings as African leaders deliberate on how to make the continent greater.