Kenya and the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will see the country host the Bank Group’s annual meetings in 2024.
National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary (CS) Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u said that Kenya is privileged to host Africa’s largest economic event as he gave the assurance that the government is fully committed to ensure a successful hosting of the meetings.
Speaking on Friday at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) where the meetings will be held the CS said, “Having recently hosted the inaugural Africa Climate Summit (ACS), Kenya is prime for hosting the AfDB AGM and will utilise the recently refurbished conference facilities.”
Prof. Ndung’u who is the current AfDB group board of governor’s chairman said that Kenya has some of the best conference facilities that is the KICC not forgetting world class hotel and hospitality facilities.
“The transport system in Nairobi has greatly improved with the construction of the Nairobi Expressway and even if one decides to stay in a hotel near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) they can access the meetings’ venue in 15 minutes,” explained the CS.
“Ministers of finance from all the African countries will be attending the meetings and this is not a small number considering that they will come with their delegates,” said Prof. Ndung’u as he explained that Nairobi has the requisite logistics to handle such a big number of delegates.
The CS highlighted that KICC has a history where it hosted the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) AGM the last time it was held in Africa that is 50 years ago.
This will be the fourth time for Kenya to host the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings, the first three being in 1968, 1993, and 1994 respectively.
The AfDB Group is one of Kenya’s key development partners, with a total portfolio of about US$ 3.9 billion- approximately Sh579 billion (as at August 2023) across various sectors including infrastructure, transport, water, sanitation, and energy.
AfDB Secretary General Prof. Vincent Nmehielle said that on the MoU with Kenya they have agreed on the responsibilities that Kenya holds in hosting that AGM which include provision of security, logistics, deploying the venue to enable them have a successful function, taking care of the delegates in terms of protocol and access to country through Visa among others.
“We are looking forward to hosting our governors to a memorable visit to Kenya,” said Nmehielle.
Nmehielle highlighted that Kenya is in discussion with the bank for budgetary support as he explained that this kind of support is usually geared towards enabling a country meet a number of challenges arising from particular sectors of the economy, improving governance or something the government wants to do over a particular period.
He added that the Bank is working on increasing its capital which will enable it do more projects across the continent.
“We wish we could have much more but the World is going through some economic challenges and we are not oblivious of the situation and we are doing everything we can by optimising our balance sheet,” said Nmehielle.
The Annual Meetings bring together some 4,000 participants, including Ministers of Finance from the Bank Group’s 82 member countries, CEOs, civil society, academia, and development practitioners, among others.
By Joseph Ng’ang’a
