The CEO of the NEPAD Agency, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, attended a breakfast event on March 29 hosted by the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Mr Achim Steiner at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa. 

This event, held on the margins of the UN-AU Conference of Ministers of Finance, was titled, "Greening Africa's Financial Markets," and highlighted the necessity for the continent's financial system to develop and be in the service of Africa's sustainable development.

In his remarks, Dr Mayaki commended the close collaboration between the NEPAD Agency and UNEP, and noted that this collaboration must be strengthened in the preparations for the global Financing for Development conference to be hosted in July 2015 in Addis Ababa. Dr Mayaki also recognised the fact that aligning the financial system to sustainable development requires deliberate policy steps to ensure both synergy and longevity.

The CEO with Mr Achim Steiner 

The CEO also met with the Minister of Planning of Chad, Mrs Mariam Mahamat Nour (below, centre). Minister Nour emphasised the importance of the CEO coming personally to Chad to explore areas of cooperation where the NEPAD Agency can bring added expertise and support for regional infrastructure development.

The Minister and CEO discussed the Dakar-N’Djamena-Djibouti road and rail project as one of the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI) projects. The CEO noted that there is a proposal to divide the project into two and for President of Chad Idriss Déby to potentially champion the N’Djamena to Djibouti portion. The CEO offered to send the concept note on this portion of the road and rail project, as well as the terms of reference for PICI Champions. 

Minister Nour mentioned the importance of making progress with respect to financing of large infrastructure projects. The Africa Development Bank (AfDB’s) Africa50 Fund was identified as the continent’s pool of resources to facilitate the financing of pre-feasibility studies in her country. Dr Mayaki also mentioned the creation of the PIDA Service Delivery Mechanism (SDM) for the preparation of prefeasibility studies, which is also at the disposal of member states.