OREANDA-NEWS. For three days this week, African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina brought Africa to the Americas, and the AfDB to Canada, as the co-chair of the 22nd International Economic Forum of the Americas - Conference of Montreal.  The Forum closed on Thursday.

It was the President’s first official visit to Canada since assuming office on September 1, 2015, and he delivered impassioned speeches that touched on issues ranging from Africa’s huge, and largely untapped, potential for renewable energy; climate change and fragility; women’s financial empowerment; youth employment; and the migration crisis in Europe. He also thanked Canada for its continued support to the Bank and the African Development Fund, which contributes to poverty reduction and economic development in the most impoverished countries.

The President’s role as conference co-chair began with the Chairman’s Dinner on Tuesday evening at the Mount Royal Club, where he addressed some 100 business executives, and concluded - three speaking engagements and about 24 hours later - at a VIP cocktail hosted by the Government of Ontario.

On the sidelines of the conference, Adesina held bilateral meetings with the Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, and with Jean Lebel, President of the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa.

With Couillard, Adesina outlined the Bank’s High 5 priorities – Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. He also  called for increased cooperation and investment in Africa, particularly in the areas of energy and agro-business.

On Wednesday morning, Adesina was the guest-of-honour at a VIP breakfast at the Montreal offices of Dentons, a global law firm. He launched into a lively dialogue with former Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Canada’s engagement in Africa, with both calling for more public- and private-sector investment on the continent.

At a Royal Bank of Canada luncheon, Michel Fortier, Vice-Chairman, RBC Capital Markets, sought Adesina’s views on the migrant crisis and the threat of terrorism on the continent.

“Nobody wants to be poor,” said Adesina, who lamented the number of young Africans risking – and losing – their lives for a better life Europe. “If you look at the confluence of factors – environmental degradation, high levels of joblessness and poverty – quite honestly, idle hands are the devil’s workshop. So it’s very easy for terrorists to move around rural areas in Africa, which have become zones of economic misery because there are no more economic opportunities left. If you do some mapping and look at where the terrorists are recruiting, you see that is where you have environmental degradation and poverty.” In order to reduce the risks of migration or terrorism, those zones need to be transformed into zones of economic prosperity, he said. Which is why the African Development Bank has launched the Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA) initiative – to keep young Africans at home, and to create 25 million jobs and train 32 million young people over the next decade.