Day two of the PIDA Implementation Acceleration Strategy (PAS) Validation Meeting & preparatory meeting to the launch of the Continental Business Network (CBN) opened in earnest. 

The two day meeting set the stage for governments, project owners, private sectors and development partners to validate the action plan of the PIDA Implementation Acceleration Strategy (PAS) and prepare the launch of the Continental Business Network (CBN), which is to take place in Cape Town on June 1st, 2015. 

The CBN is a five-year initiative endorsed to facilitate private sector participation and investment in essential NEPAD and African infrastructure projects.

Speaking at the opening, Mr Symerre Grey-Johnson said, “The CBN will be a high level platform where private sector will engage with theNEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee to unblock infrastructure financing bottlenecks and improve the African investment climate for infrastructure, energy, manufacturing and industrial projects.”  

“The time has come for African private sector and public sector to hold hands and deal with soft policy and regulatory issues blocking infrastructure development,” explained Mrs Constance Chigwamba, Permanent Secretary at the Zimbabwean Presidency. 

The CBN will serve as a key private sector engagement platform for NEPAD and the African Union Commission (AUC) to create dialogue with the private sector on PIDA and infrastructure projects; build capacity in private sector firms so they can more successfully bid for infrastructure related contracts; enable the African public sector to better it engage theprivate sector through best practice and transparent procurement processes, and well-defined policies, including unsolicited bids.  It will also serve a database of private sector professionals engaged in developing Africa’s infrastructure tofacilitate communication between them, and unblock bottlenecks caused by poor information flow. 

The membership to the platform will include Private financiers, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), Equity providers, pension funds managers, insurance companies, Private sector operators.

Structured in plenary discussions and breakaway sessions format, the morning session of the meeting focused breakaway sessions on the finalisation of specific actions to bring each project to closure.

Activities for the PIDA Implementation Acceleration Strategy (PAS) Action Plan were identified on a project by project basis during the breakaway sessions. The breakaway sessions were an opportunity to critically assess project and the role NEPAD  can play to accelerate the development and implementation of the projects.

Participants at the meeting 

Participants validated the action plan which will be used as pilot and replicated on the rest of the 51 PIDA projects upon completion of the first 16 projects.