Promoting Sustainable Development Across The Lobito Corridor
Last week, G-7 leaders met for the 50th G7 summit in Puglia, Italy, and reaffirmed their support for infrastructure development projects across Africa. US President Joe Biden and the current G-7 President, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, co-chaired an ad-hoc meeting alongside the summit to discuss the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), and how it could connect to Italy’s Mattei Plan for Africa. The meeting was also attended by Italian and US representatives from the financial, energy, and digital privacy sectors.
Italy announced its participation in the US and EU initiatives to boost sustainable development along the Lobito Corridor, pledging to enhance cooperation and mobilize up to $320 million in investments for rail infrastructure and related projects. This move aims to foster synergies with the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA). The Lobito Corridor is connected by a railway infrastructure that weaves through valuable mineral and oil reserves in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia. It connects Southern and Central Africa and opens up access to Eastern Africa and a route to the Atlantic Ocean.
The African Development Bank is committed to supporting massive infrastructure projects that will help Africa reach its targets of economic transformation, sustainable development, and poverty eradication. According to the Bank’s President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, they have invested over $50 billion in quality infrastructure across the continent over the past 8 years. He stated that the Bank is Africa’s leading financier of infrastructure development.
The meeting served as confirmation of the unwavering commitment to launch and expand investments in PGII economic corridors on a global scale. These corridors, which include routes in Asia, Africa, and a connection between Europe and Asia via the Middle East, were highly appreciated for attracting significant investments from private companies in strategic sectors such as green energy and digitalization.
The co-chairs expressed enthusiasm for the Africa Green Industrialization Initiative (AGII) as a key platform for collaboration on infrastructure investment in Africa. They also praised the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) for committing up to $100 million in philanthropic catalytic investment capital to unlock an additional $1 billion in private finance. GEAPP was acknowledged as a key partner in implementing distributed renewable energy generation, battery storage, and e-mobility projects.
Other Initiatives Supported By The African Development Bank
For more information about the G7 summit and the meeting to review the PGII, go to AFDB.org:
“Apart from the Lobito corridor, Dr Adesina listed a whole raft of the other projects the Bank was supporting to change the face of Africa. These included:
● Financing with $1 billion the 1,110 km transport corridor that’s linked Ethiopia to Nairobi and Mombasa, expanding trade between them by 400%.
● Partnering with the US and EU Global Gateway to finance the Lobito corridor between Angola, Zambia and DRC. The African Development Bank is providing $500 million to finance Zambia’s end of the corridor.
● Financing the $3.2 billion central rail corridor that links Tanzania, DRC and Burundi, through securitization.
● Financing with $213 million the energy transmission line linking Mauritania and Mali and the Rosso bridge linking Senegal and Mauritania.
However, he said a major challenge remained the ‘lack of bankable projects, which has to do with the lack of enough project preparation facilities.’ The African Development Bank set up the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA), with $500 million for project preparation and development, to mobilize $10 billion in private investments into green infrastructure to fast-track Africa’s net zero transition.”
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Source: G-7 Leaders Reaffirm Support For Billion-Dollar Infrastructure Programme For Africa; Pledges More Support To African Development Bank-Backed Initiatives - African Development Bank Group
Photo Source: WIX - www.wix.com
Written by AQUAMERGE
June 14, 2024