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Sydney Kawadza in MALABO, Equatorial Guinea
At least 3 000 delegates and participants are gathered here for the 54th Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the African Development Bank and the 45th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund being held at the Sipopo Conference Centre in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Zimbabwe’s Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube is also expected to lead a high powered delegation which will include permanent secretary Mr George Guvamatanga and other Government officials.  The Annual Meetings are the Bank’s largest event and will bring together about 3 000 delegates and participants.

The Meetings, being held under the theme “Regional Intergration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity” provide a unique forum for representatives of governments, businesses, civil society, think tanks, academia and the media worldwide, to dialogue on key issues concerning Africa’s development. The theme is one of the Bank’s five strategic priorities.

The meeting’s calendar of events includes a High-Level Presidential Dialogue on “Boosting Africa’s Economic Integration” while there will also be a special presentation of the Bank’s flagship African Economic Outlook publication for 2019, released in January this year.
Zimbabwe and the AfDB have recently increased pace of deliberations over debt clearance and the deliberations which have been ongoing are expected to continue this week.

Zimbabwe owes the AfDB around US$605 million with Government considering a bridge finance whereby the AfDB, under the Arrears Clearance Window (Pillar II) of the Fragile States Facility or their Transition Stabilisation Facility, gives Harare a grant of about US$500 million to settle the debt. That would mean that the country’s net payment would be around US$120 million.

More to follow…