Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | A | African Business

We will battle global crisis on equal terms--AfDB: this year, the African Development Bank's annual meeting focused on the critical issue of the continent's response to the current global economic crisis. It drew its largest-ever participation and arrived at some vital decisions in a bid to steady the continent in the face of the economic storms. Anver Versi was there.

Article Excerpt
There was no question that the 44th annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Dakar, Senegal, last month was easily the most critical of this decade. The theme said it all: 'Africa and the financial crisis: An agenda for action'.

This time, no one can accuse Africa's foremost financial institution of being slow out of the blocks. Before the annual meeting, AfDB president Donald Kaberuka had lost no time in organising a series of meetings within and without Africa to assess the global crisis and find ways of mitigating it.

Dakar was thus a sober gathering of African and international public and private sector representatives, but, despite the seriousness of the global crisis facing the world, the mood at the conference was optimistic. There was a feeling that at least on this occasion, Africa would have been away on a long, sustained period of growth had it not been tripped up by irresponsible activity by other parties. But there were no lamentations. "I want to make it very clear to our international partners," Kaberuka told the record number of journalists who were covering the meeting, "that we are...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!