AfDB to host seminar on energy and investment potential in Africa

The African Development Bank will on 2 August, 2018 organize a seminar on Africa’s energy and investment potentials in Tokyo, Japan.


AfDB | Updated: 13-07-2018 01:33 IST | Created: 13-07-2018 01:33 IST
AfDB to host seminar on energy and investment potential in Africa
The energy sector and Africa Investment Forum Seminar will identify bankable projects in Africa’s energy sector. (Image Credit: Reuters)

The African Development Bank will on 2 August, 2018 organize a seminar on Africa’s energy and investment potentials in Tokyo, Japan.

Coming ahead of the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD, in Yokohama in 2019, the energy sector and Africa Investment Forum Seminar will identify bankable projects in Africa’s energy sector and mobilize Asia’s investment community towards the Africa Investment Forum (AIF).

The AIF – Africa’s own investment marketplace for accelerated economic transformation - is scheduled for 7-9 November 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The pre-TICAD African Development Bank energy and Africa Investment Forum seminar in Tokyo follows the inaugural meeting of Africa Energy Marketplace, an initiative of the Bank, held in the Ivorian capital, 5 - 6 July 2018. At the Africa Energy Marketplace, energy and development experts from across Africa and beyond called for renewed urgency in the drive to light up and power the continent. With close to 600 million Africans still lacking electricity, they resolved that Africa's power deficit must be considered as both a crisis and an opportunity to fast-track reforms and transactions. The Tokyo Forum will build on and maintain this momentum.

The seminar will feature one-on-one business meetings, panel sessions and presentations on the AIF, on Japan – Africa trade, the potentials and investment climate of African economies and on securing investments and partnerships in Africa’s energy sector.

Africa is rich in energy resources with well over 10 terawatts of solar potential, 350 gigawatts of hydroelectric potential, 110 gigawatts of wind potential, and an additional 15 gigawatts of geothermal potential. However, Africa remains unable to power its homes and businesses unless it unlocks this huge renewable energy potential and combines it with conventional energy to light up and power rural and urban communities, companies and countries across the continent.

Achieving universal access to energy for Africa through the Bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa initiative would also be on the agenda, including putting together a pipeline of investment-ready products and projects for investors, fund and asset managers and others managing emerging markets assets. 

The IAF was officially launched by African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina and David Makhura, Premier of South Africa’s Gauteng Province on 8 May 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Both leaders endorsed the Forum as a worthy initiative and called on potential project sponsors, borrowers, lenders and investors to take advantage of the AIF platform to accelerate Africa’s investment drive.

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