Abidjan, September 7, 2021 — The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has approved to support the capacity building-activities of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADF). The support will cover the digitalization of the AADFI’s Learning Management System to scale up AADFI’s knowledge activities for DFIs and reinforce the Association’s digital presence. The agreement to put action to the support was signed on September 6, 2021, in a brief virtual ceremony, by Mr. Rémy Rioux, Chief Executive Officer of AFD and Chairman of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), and Mr. Thabo Thamane, Chairman of AADFI and CEO of the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), Botswana. Mr. Rémy Rioux, in his remarks, emphasized the need for the bigger economies to support the developing nations in an innovative manner. Hence the effort in pushing for more support for public development banks (PDBs) and innovative use of the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to be channeled to recapitalize PDBs. Mr. Thabo Thamane, on his part, commended the AFD for its support, which attested to the fact that the AFD and AADFI were working in line with their Partnership Agreement, signed in 2020 during the first Finance in Common Summit (FiCS), and in accordance with the Declaration of the Summit to sustain actions in implementing the SDGs and the Paris Agreement in African countries. The AADFI Chairman reiterated that the support will sustain the AADFI’s actions in digitalizing its operations, particularly in the light of the “new normal” resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be recalled that the AFD and the AADFI signed a Partnership Agreement in 2020, for the promotion of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, among others. For more information about the AADFI and its activities, visit www.adfi-ci.org. |