H.E Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), paid her first working visit to Washington, DC from September 12 to 15, 2022 and a follow up meeting on 30 September 2022, during which she had a series of high-level meetings with U.S Administration officials, leaders of the U.S private sector organizations and the World Bank Group, including with Mr. Maktar Diop, Managing Director and Executive Vice-President of the International Finance Corporation.

The visit of H.E Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas to the United States aimed at raising the profile and visibility of the AUDA-NEPAD in its capacity as the first development agency of the African Union, further reinforcing and effectively leveraging the cooperation and partnerships with key U.S Stakeholders as well as with the World Bank Group.

Taking place against the backdrop of the new mandate of the Agency and its fundamental role in coordinating and implementing the regional integration Agenda, the visit provided an excellent opportunity to revitalize the existing partnership as well as to mobilize the support of the U.S Administration and the World Bank to the new initiative of the AUDA-NEPAD titled “ Energize Africa”, launched on September 19, 2022 in New York and the forthcoming Dakar Financing Summit for Africa’s Infrastructure Development in January 2023.

During her working visit, H.E Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas was received at the White House National Security Council by Mr. Judd Devermont, Special Assistant to the United States President and Senior Director for African Affairs and Ms. Dana Banks, Senior Advisor at the National Security Council in charge of the preparation of the U.S-Africa Leaders’ Summit scheduled to take place next December 2022 in Washington, DC. Mme CEO had also bilateral meetings with Ambassador Dr. John N. Nkengasong, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Health Diplomacy, Ms. Agnes Dasewicz, the Chief Operating Officer of the Development Finance Corporation, and the Representatives of Prosper Africa and Power Africa at the United States Development Agency.

The Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD also had meetings with Ms. Florie Liser, President & CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa and its members and with Mr. Scott Eisner, President of the U.S-Africa Business Center & Senior Vice President of the US Chamber of Commerce.

During these meetings, H.E Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas underscored the importance of the longstanding ties of cooperation between Africa and the United States and discussed with her counterparts the importance of enhancing U.S. Government and private sector investments in critical sectors particularly in infrastructure and social and economic development of Africa as embedded in Agenda 2063.  She underscored the pivotal role of the Agency in the realization of the continental integration agenda. Her Excellency advocated for a new paradigm shift towards strategic, sustained, and predictable investment in regional and continental initiatives that are essential for the creation of regional and global common goods.  To this effect, the CEO provided to her U.S Interlocutors in both the U.S Government and the private sector an overview of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA II), provided the list of pipeline projects as well as bankable projects ready for investment.   She emphasized the importance of working together to mobilize and catalyze U.S institutional capital to invest on regional and continental infrastructure projects in perspective of the forthcoming Dakar Financing Summit on January 2023.

On the other hand, the bilateral meetings held by H.E Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas with Mr. Makhtar Diop, Managing Director and Executive Vice-President of the International Finance Corporation, Ms. Boutheina Guermazi, Director of Africa Regional Integration, Mr. Siemon Ehui, Regional Director for Sustainable Development  and  the African Executive Directors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund provided the occasion to discuss  the cooperation on infrastructure, including digital, agriculture and food security, building resilient supply chains in Africa, leveraging trade finance to further promote regional integration, vocational training and promoting African centers of excellence for knowledge management and youth innovation centers. The meetings highlighted the alignment between the priorities of the Agency and the Bank. The latter expressed its readiness to support the Agency in the implementation of the priority regional infrastructure projects including the youth continental program “Energize Africa” as well as the capacity building program of the Agency through the African Union Commission.

The CEO had also a meeting with two leading Africans Scholars in the United States: Professor Landry Signé, Executive Director & Full Professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Regional Action Group on Africa, and Mr. W  Gyude Moore, Senior Policy Fellow at the Center for Global Development. Building an effective partnership between AUDA-NEPAD and the Washingtonian think tank community that focuses on rethinking Africa’s development cooperation and international partnerships was discussed.

In conformity with the diplomatic tradition that she has established during all her working visits abroad, the CEO briefed, at the African Union Mission to the United States, the members of the African Diplomatic Corps accredited to the United States on her meetings with the U.S Administration, the private sector and the World Bank Group. The CEO commended the African Ambassadors for their active engagement to take U.S-Africa relations to a higher level, accentuating the importance of placing the major projects of the regional and continental integration high on the agenda of the forthcoming US-Africa Leaders’ Summit from December 12 to 15, 2022 in Washington, DC.

The African Union Development Agency would like to thank the Permanent Mission of the AU in Washington for organizing the high-level meetings and providing efficient and effective support to the Delegation.