International

Kenya will next week host a regional infrastructure and investment summit to discuss development in the region, organisers said on Monday.

The two-day summit organised by the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), in collaboration with the European Union (EU) and the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA) will be held in Nairobi from March 12-13.

“The Summit is expected to attract high-level participation from both the public and private sectors. It is anticipated that IGAD Member States will be represented by their Heads of State and Government, relevant Ministers and senior officials,” IGAD said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

The Summit comes on the heels of the ground breaking and official launch of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) a few days ago and after the Tripartite and IGAD Infrastructure Investment Conference (TIIC) that took place in September last year.  

“The two-day Summit is going to be a unique event giving a rare opportunity to discuss infrastructure development in the region,” the statement said.

The statement said the summit offers a perfect setting for the region to showcase its priority regional infrastructure projects in transport, water and energy as well as opportunities in infrastructure services to international donor community, development partners, infrastructure and investment funds including the leading institutional investors and the private sector infrastructure investors outside the region.

 The summit will be attended by bilateral and multilateral development partners such as the World Bank, the EU, the African Development Bank and many others. According to the statement, the CEOs and Managing Directors of private sector and corporate organisations will also participate.