OREANDA-NEWS. April 24, 2015. The 2015 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is scheduled to take place in Abidjan, C?te d’Ivoire, from May 25-29 with the election of the 8th President* of the Bank Group and commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the institution at the top of the agenda.

Bank Governors, usually Finance and Economy Ministers or Central Bank Governors representing the Group’s 80 member countries, will lead over 2,500 delegates and confirmed participants at the meetings which are taking place on the central theme, “Africa and the New Global Landscape.”

The gathering will review the Bank’s 2014 operations and its 2015 development funding portfolio, as well as challenges facing the African region in key areas such as climate change, infrastructure, private sector and governance.

The AfDB is Africa’s premier development finance institution established in 1964 to mobilise resources for the economic and social development of its 54 regional member countries by promoting sustainable and inclusive growth. The Bank Group approved 232 operations totaling US \\$7.59 billion in 2014; including 4,185 cumulative loans and grants worth US \\$107.60 billion from 1967 to 2014.        

Delegates representing other multilateral finance institutions, development agencies, private sector chief executives, non-governmental and civil society organisations as well as the media will also attend the meetings which make major decisions about the Bank Group.

The commemoration of the Bank’s 50th anniversary and the election of its 8th President* are among the key events of the 2015 annual meetings.

From 25 May, there will be a series of high-level seminars and other side events on the continent’s economic, social and political situations, and how they can be leveraged to accelerate the continent’s transformation.

The high-level events will seek to explore strategic policies and actions that Africa’s policy-makers and the continent’s businesses and civil society may adopt to support the continent as an emerging global player.

They will also provide opportunities for networking, debate and negotiations capacity building on the member countries’ policy positions.

The knowledge events are designed to help empower and support Africa’s policy-makers in a number of ways, including ensuring a fairer deal in the new climate change negotiations, as well as enable them to fully participate in other global fora, including the post-MDG discussions in New York.

These events reaffirm the Bank’s core roles as knowledge broker and provider of financial services.

C?te d’Ivoire hosted the 45th African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Abidjan in 2010.

For more information or to register: www.afdb.org/am

On social media:

* Signifying elected Presidents and not those serving in a caretaker capacity