Rwanda has been chosen to host the 49th Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) group and 40th meetings of the African Development Fund (ADF).The decision for Rwanda to host the high level continental bank group meetings was approved yesterday at the meeting of the joint steering committee, at the sidelines of the just concluded 48th Annual Meeting of the AfDB in Marrakech, Morocco.According to the communiqué, the joint steering committee recommended to the board of governors to adopt the resolution approving the hosting of the 2014 annual meetings in Kigali from May, 19 to 23.The steering committee meeting appointed, Amb. Claver Gatete, the Minister of Finance and Economic planning as the chair president starting at the end of the 2013 annual meetings to the end of the 2014 annual meetings.Addressing a news conference shortly after Rwanda was chosen to host the forum, Gatete said that it’s an opportunity for Rwanda to show what the bank’s resources have done for the country.“This is very important because it will provide us with a platform to share challenges with the bank’s authorities and understand how we respond to the challenges,” he said.Gatete stated that since it will be hosted in the East African Community (EAC) region, it will be an opportunity to showcase what’s happening within the EAC, regarding the infrastructure and other AfDB projects.Dr. Donald Kaberuka, the AfDB group president explained that every member country of the AfDB has a right to host the bank’s annual meetings.“The criteria, we use among others is to assess the availability of facilities to host the meeting, and our team went there (Rwanda) and proved that the country has the capacity to host the meeting,” he noted.Côte d’Ivoire will host the meet in 2015 and Zambia in 2016.The meeting also ended with a call to urgently commit to achieve Africa’s structural transformation by developing timely solutions to the challenges of job term commitment, the equitable allocation of the benefits of growth and the continent’s natural resources.The high-level forum that was also graced by President Paul Kagame and the Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, attracted more than 2,500 participants, including academics, finance ministers, political leaders, central bank governors, representatives of international organisations, civil society organisations and the media.The five-day meeting held under the theme “Africa’s structural transformation” focused on the need for Africa to turn economic growth into shared and sustainable economic transformation within the next half century.The bank will return its Headquarters to Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire before November 2014. AfDB was temporarily carrying out its operations in Tunisia due to political instabilities back in Côte d’Ivoire two years back.
