The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the UNIDO signed a partnership programme on Monday to collaborate on the need to accelerate Africa’s industrialisation.

The AfDB in 2016, launched its Industrialisation Strategy for Africa 2016-2025, which was the outcome of collaborative work with UNIDO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

“The signing of the current MoU is key to our strategy’s implementation,’’ AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina, said at the event.

“The Bank already benefits enormously from UNIDO’s expertise in developing policies, programmes and knowledge tools which support our member countries to industrialise.’’

The Managing Director of UNIDO in South Korea, Mr Phillipe Scholtes, said achieving Africa’s industrial potential would not happen by chance, but strong partnerships such as the MoU were needed to formalise.

In 2017, the Bank allocated 1.2 billion dollars to industrialise Africa – one of the bank’s “High 5” development priorities to projects for financial sector operations.

The new agreement seeks to facilitate the bank and UNIDO’s cooperation on joint activities of shared interest in areas such as agro-industry development and circular economy.

Other areas are eco-industrial parks, investment in innovation and technology, enterprise development, trade and capacity building.

The memorandum was jointly signed by Adesina and Scholtes in Busa on the sidelines of AfDB’s 44th Annual Meetings, with the theme, “Accelerating Africa’s Industrialisation”. (NAN)