The 52nd Annual Meetings of the African Development bank (AfDB) will be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from 22nd to 26th of this month. This is the first time that the Annual Meetings of AfDB are being held in India.
These Meetings are the Bank’s largest annual event and serve to raise the profile of the institution on the global stage. In addition to the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors, these Meetings will bring together about 3000 delegates and participants, and will feature a number of official, knowledge, and side events.
The Governors of the Bank are from the 54 African regional member countries and 27 non-regional member countries, including India. The Annual Meetings provide a unique forum for representatives of government, business, civil society, think-tanks, academia and the media – from Africa and beyond – to debate key issues on Africa’s development, and to discuss the Bank’s performance in delivering on its mandate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in the inaugural session. Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, is India’s Governor to AfDB and would be conducting the meetings as the Chair.Heads of State and Government of Senegal Benin Republic, Republic of Cote D’Ivoire and Union of Comoros would be attending these meetings.
The former President of Ghana, John Dramani MAHAMA would also be attending the Annual Meetings. Our correspondent reports that the meeting in Gandhinagar is the fourth time that the Annual Meetings of AfDB are being held outside Africa.
The first such meeting took place in Valencia, Spain in 2001, the second in Shanghai, China in 2007, and the third in Lisbon, Portugal in 2011. The next meeting of AfDB is scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea in 2018.
