Abidjan Agog As Finance In Common Summit Kicks Off Today

Posted by Eric Ojo African News, Business News, Latest Headlines, West Africa Tuesday, October 18th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Abidjan the capital city of Côte d’Ivoire is buzzing with activities as stakeholders and representatives of Public Development Banks (PDBs) from around the world converge for the kick- off of this year’s edition of Finance in Common Summit (FICS) today.

The FICS is the global network of all PDBs, which aims to align financial flows on the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement for Climate Change.

Its objective is to strengthen partnerships among PDBs to accelerate the convergence towards shared standards and best practices, to support banks’ commitments to shift their strategies towards sustainability, and to give PDBs more visibility in the global fora discussing international policy issues.

By mobilizing PDBs and crucial stakeholders, from private sector to civil society organizations, its aim is to encourage more coherent approaches to make the whole development finance system consistent with the common climate and sustainability objectives.

For the third consecutive year, the 2022 edition of FICS is an initiative of the World Federation of Development Finance Institutions (WFDFI) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) with the support of all the members of the FICS coalition. The event will be rounded off on the 20th.

The event themed, “Green and Just transition for a sustainable recovery”, is being hosted for the first time, by two major multilateral banks; the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), in partnership with the French Development Bank (AFD), the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB).

Hybrid event will gather the entire FICS coalition, comprising 520+ Public Development Banks (PDBs) across the world and their stakeholders, including international and regional organizations, private sector corporates, philanthropies, civil society, and members of the academic community.

Ahead of COP27 where progress will be expected from financial actors, the third edition of the FICS Summit will provide an opportunity to highlight the key role of PDBs in supporting the transformation of economies and financial systems towards sustainability, while addressing the most pressing needs of developing countries and vulnerable groups.

Through nine high-level events, the summit will foster debates on the importance to financing in common, of resilience and adaptation, green and quality infrastructure, health, and social protection.

Ahead of the event, EIB president Werner Hoyer said the energy crisis triggers broader structural shifts for countries at all income levels, which according to him, come with huge investment needs, adding that at the same time, high energy prices lead to a slowing global economy and investments at a time when these are most needed.

“No single institution can meet these tremendous needs for investment, nor bridge alone all the knowledge gaps that make projects successful. Working in partnerships is the only solution. I look forward to exploring new ways of cooperating with all PDBs at the third Finance in Common Summit”, he said.

Similarly, the AfDB president, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina noted that the energy and food security crisis has been worsened by what he described as the persistent effects of the three Cs of – Climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Conflict (Russia’s war in Ukraine), which according to him, make meeting the Sustainable Development Goals even more challenging.

“We as Multilateral Development Banks and Public Development Banks have a collective responsibility to urgently find new and creative ways to bridge the $2.5 trillion global financing gap to achieve these goals by 2030,” said Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank Group.

Chairman of FICS, the chair of IDFC and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AFD, Rémy Rioux said as the world is facing multiple crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the war in Ukraine, and its impacts on global economy, energy and food security, they all need to join forces and finance at-scale solutions.

“This is the purpose of FICs, the community of all PDBs, at multilateral, regional and national levels, gathering for the third time in Abidjan this week.

Through strengthened technical and financial cooperation, I believe we can collectively help overhaul the global financial system and unleash the trillions of dollars of SDG-compatible investments needed”, he stressed